Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Kreutzer Sonata (1987)
Director: Mikhail Schweitzer, Sofia Milkina
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This version of the Tolstoy novel is cinematically conventional, but grips like a drowner in the writing and acting. Pozdnyshev (Yankovsky), who murdered his wife, pours out an agonised confession to a fellow-traveller on a train. His chastening tale of a relationship which stifled both parties, twisted into jealousy, and ended in violence, is explored in flashback. She (Seleznyova) first caught his eye in a drawing room entertainment by the sheer physical joy of her response to music. Life with him soon snuffed that out; and years later, he sees it again on her face as she plays the Beethoven piece with a philandering violin virtuoso. Only when she is dying does he realise what he has destroyed, and feel for another's life. Neither Albee nor Bergman dug any deeper into the pain of the loveless marriage, and Tolstoy, of course, rises to more universal levels. Yankovsky's performance is a tour de force; it invades the emotions and forces you to understand.Author: BC
Cast & crew
Director: Mikhail Schweitzer, Sofia Milkina
Cast: Oleg Yankovsky, Aleksandr Trofimov, Irina Seleznyova, Dmitri Pokrovsky, Alla Demidova, Lidia Fedoseyeva-Shukshina full cast
Duration: 135 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
What do you think?
Post your review now