Anton Chekhov's The Duel

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Audience Member The story is great and the acting is wonderful (except for Mislav). However, the movie fails to show you the great story of the book. If you are a bit tired, you will sleep. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a very good looking movie. The cinematography is beautiful. The colours and lighting are excellent. The story is a simple one. The lead character, Lavesky (Andrew Scott), is wholly despicable and someone we don't want to spend time with. He is a ne'er-do-well. He spends his time lying about in the summer heat. He does this, when he is not occupied by drinking or playing cards. He apparently, is employed as a Russian civil servant. But, we rarely see him doing anything that looks like work. He is living with another man's wife. He has grown tired of her. He spends his time scheming about how to get rid of her. His girlfriend is Nadya (Fiona Glascott). Lucky for the viewer, Ms Glascott is an unusually beautiful woman. He plays her understated role in a very effective manner. The other principal character of note is Von Koren (Tobias Menzies). He observes the activities of the dissolute Lavesky with increasing anger. And here we find the source of the Duel of the title. Although the characters were somewhat interesting; there just was not enough to the story to fully engage me. I would not recommend this movie. But, it does look very good. That was not enough for me. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member GREAT MOVIE. EXTRAORDINARY COSTUMING AND CINEMATOGRAPHY. I LOVE IT. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Save Shakespeare, Chekhov is the literary giant whose work is most frequently adapted for the screen. Based on his eponymous 1891 novella, THE DUEL gives life to a classic Chekhovian tale: the young ne'er-do-well aristocrat vs. the arrogant man of science; the attraction of a manipulative, narcissistic mistress vs. the life of the mind and of principled action. Gambling, alcohol and flirtations consummated in an impossibly beautiful countryside hold obvious attractions for Laevsky. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Gorgeous production. Fantastic acting from all. Very interesting to see and beautiful to watch. Filmed in Croatia - just beautiful. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member An aristocrat who questions his relationship with a married woman incites the ire of a scientist in the Russian countryside. Everything worth loving about Chekhov - the subtlety, the well-drawn characters, the crises of conscience - is here and filmed beautifully. I especially liked the performance by Andrew Scott as Vanya who performs a scene that is described in the script as "hysterics," but I think the best phrase is an "existential paroxysm." <i>The Duel</i> is a film built on subtext, and it takes a sharp, discerning eye to appreciate why the characters behave as they do, each action sharply motivated. I thought that the subplot of Vanya's financial difficulties was never resolved, but I suspect that an apologia for this film would suggest that larger existential issues over-weighed money; it's true, but a commitment to solving all his problems would not have been hard to show. Overall, Anton Chekhov is one of world literature's great writers, and <i>The Duel</i> displays all the great aspects of his work. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Anton Chekhov's The Duel

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