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Dark Eyes

Play trailer Poster for Dark Eyes Released Sep 26, 1987 1h 54m Comedy Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
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90% Tomatometer 10 Reviews 91% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Although Romano (Marcello Mastroianni) has no personal wealth, his wife, Elisa (Silvana Mangano), has more than enough money to support him, and this situation allows him to indulge in the finer things of life. While enjoying a solo spa getaway, he meets Anna (Elena Safonova) and becomes so smitten with her that he decides to follow her home to Russia, where he swears his love and promises to return. Upon reuniting with Elisa, however, Romano suddenly finds himself torn between the two women.

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Dark Eyes

Critics Reviews

View All (10) Critics Reviews
Barbara Scharres Chicago Reader This feeble revelation, however, hardly makes the preceding footage worth the wait... Rated: 1/4 May 10, 2022 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Dark Eyes tells one of those stories where you think you know everything, but you do not, and at the end of the story you know that everyone is very unhappy but you cannot see precisely what they should have done differently. Rated: 3.5/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Ángel Fernández-Santos El Pais (Spain) Dark Eyes is an unsurpassable lesson in the difficult task of creating true cinema from true literature. [Full Review in Spanish] Jun 16, 2020 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Marcello Mastroianni received a well-deserved Oscar nomination (his third) for playing an aging womanizer in Nikita Mikhalkov's charming fable based on Chekhov's stories. Rated: B+ Apr 6, 2011 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 4/5 Jun 12, 2005 Full Review Jon Niccum Lawrence Journal-World A fine performance by Mastroianni Rated: 3/5 Sep 24, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (19) audience reviews
L H This movie contains most things! The film contains a lot of humor. But in humor it is also serious. It can make you both laugh and cry. It can be interpreted as a man's inadequacy, and that you do not grab the chance when you have it. A random meeting between two men on each side of the happiness scale. It's fun and sad. Great actors. Great scenes and music. A joy of a movie that is one of the best films that has been preserved in my memory almost 40 years. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/23/24 Full Review Audience Member More important now than it was in 1987. I find it interesting, and saddening, how the American field of critics reviewed and parsed the film so naively, so "missed-the-point". In 2020, as an American citizen, art historian, and widow of an Italian creative who flourished in the 60s to 90s, I must say that the way this film was countenanced in such a fly-by disconnect way, a total missed-the-whole-point way, and was misconstrued as something about "love" or "lost love", portends for me, the miasma the American mind (if there is such a thing, really) has submersed itself in. A brilliant film that genuinely reflects: the human condition; the flow of human life through all of its "isms" and "isn'ts"; the ambiguity of everything we experience and intend; and the indelible nuances that still hold sway as the irrevocable DNA of Russian and Italian culture. That DNA thrives in these cultures, as it does in the hearts of humans squirming up through the layers of any and every culture they emerge from. All cultural perspectives have validity, and they all inform the hearts and hopes and biases and stances and priorities of the people who have been steeped in them from birth, youth, and other critical times of life. So be it. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review steve d I normally like Chekhov but thought this dragged. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member 7.8/10, my review: http://wp.me/p1eXom-2Al Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member A great love story, with phenomenal acting and impressive cinematography. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member First movie I went to see with my boyfriend and it was truly romantic (not only the date but the movie as well ;-). Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Dark Eyes

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Although Romano (Marcello Mastroianni) has no personal wealth, his wife, Elisa (Silvana Mangano), has more than enough money to support him, and this situation allows him to indulge in the finer things of life. While enjoying a solo spa getaway, he meets Anna (Elena Safonova) and becomes so smitten with her that he decides to follow her home to Russia, where he swears his love and promises to return. Upon reuniting with Elisa, however, Romano suddenly finds himself torn between the two women.
Director
Nikita Mikhalkov
Producer
Carlo Cucchi, Silvia D'Amico Bendicò
Screenwriter
Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Nikita Mikhalkov
Distributor
Island
Production Co
Excelsior Film-TV, Sovinfilm, RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana
Genre
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 26, 1987, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 18, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA)
$11.7K
Runtime
1h 54m
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