Madame Ranevskaya is a spoiled aging aristocratic lady, who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Lopakhin (Teale), her former serf, who has his own agenda.
O vyssinokipos, Il giardino dei ciliegi, Ο βυσσινόκηπος, Вишнева градина, Вишнёвый сад, La Cerisaie, 벚꽃동산
USA
USA
There is an inherent paradox in this movie: while Cacoyannis boldly decides to film most of Chekhov's off stage action, he fills his movie with such theatricality, as much as the framing is concerned, that it seems like an off beat play adaptation. Decent overall. Tchaikovsky was a great choice.
Drawn in by prospect of Charlotte Rampling and Alan Bates I was certainly put off by the grainy YouTube version with it's out-of-sync audio of this that I watched. It's not a overly long film, but it does feels a lot longer than it's 2 hour run.
It takes an interesting approach to the source material with Michael "Zorba the Greek" Cacoyannis (in his last film) chosing to show us much of the action which Chekhov chose to leave off-scene, and I actually wonder if someone unfamiliar with the play might be more confused, rather than less, by these additions. However, what makes it great is what it shares with the 1903 original, so it's still worthwhile, especially if you already know the play.
Kakogiannis' Cherry Orchard is rich with clever, small ideas about staging individual scenes. Its overarching idea, which is to put up on screen much of the material the play adequately relegates to offstage action, is a bad one. The addition of an unnecessary introductory scene of Ranyevskaya's life in Europe does more to confuse than to clarify, and spoils the perfect original opening. Similarly, the interpolation of a tediously protracted auction (which Chekhov simply elides over to better dramatic effect) kneecaps the immediately following scene in which everyone is nervously awaiting the outcome.
A curious mixture of intelligent direction and indifference to dramatic concision.
The Cherry Orchard (Michael Cacoyannis, 1999) 7/10
Anton Chekov's play about change in Russia with the aristocracy looking on as the middle class, once serfs, rise in power. Cacoyannis opens up the play with scenes set in lush gardens amongst glorious cherry trees and acted to perfection by a superb cast. The stunning Charlotte Rampling plays Madame Ravenskaya, refusing to accept a changing world and hanging on to her memories of her family home and the magnificent cherry orchard in the backyard.
