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First Love

Play trailer Poster for First Love R Released Oct 7, 1970 1h 30m Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
While summering in the country with his family, teenaged Alexander (John Moulder-Brown) spots his slightly older neighbor, Sinaida (Dominique Sanda), and falls instantly in love. He soon joins a significant group of suitors already after Sinaida, all of them more socially prominent than he. Nevertheless, the object of his affections doesn't entirely dismiss him, but rather, keeps him hanging on without showing any affection. Too late does Alexander discover the reason.

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First Love

Critics Reviews

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Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times When a movie moves slowly we're supposed to appreciate the "pacing," and it is a great day when a director "succeeds in establishing a mood," even if that mood is boredom in the audience. Rated: 2/4 Jul 10, 2018 Full Review Luis Freijo Culturamas [Maximillian] Schell achieved, with all the terrible complication that entails, the perfect translation of the novel to the screen. [Full review in Spanish] Dec 29, 2017 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Maxmilian Schell produced, directed, and starred in this coming of age tale, based on Turgeneve's story, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Rated: B- Apr 17, 2012 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Love to see it again the beautiful & wonderful movie. I don't understain how come a Oscar winner for Best foreign film never been release in DVD. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member This is an awfully strange adaptation of the classic Turgenev novella. Dominique Sanda is gorgeous, and of course Sven Nykvist photographs her to perfection - visually it's all quite lush and colorful - but the thin storyline can't quite take such overmelodramatization. (A lot of it seems to be just a framework for Sven to go all-out, which is superb if all you want to do is look at scenery in many beautiful ways.) There are several 'what-the-fuck!?' moments and some bizarre 'artistic' sequences that are pretty incomprehensible. The period of this period piece is very ambiguous, and the music comes way out of left field. Among the cast are the wonderful Dandy Nichols (no one is better at playing annoying and decrepit old ladies) and an outrageous John Osborne (probably best known as a playwright) as the weirdo who creepily recites bad poetry while herding pigs. With close-ups of the pigs' rear ends. Told you it was weird, didn't I? Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews
First Love

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Cast & Crew

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Maximilian Schell

Director

John Moulder-Brown

Alexander

Dominique Sanda

Sinaida

Maximilian Schell

Father

Valentina Cortese

Mother

Marius Goring

Dr. Lushin
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First Love

First Love (1970) First Love (1970) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis While summering in the country with his family, teenaged Alexander (John Moulder-Brown) spots his slightly older neighbor, Sinaida (Dominique Sanda), and falls instantly in love. He soon joins a significant group of suitors already after Sinaida, all of them more socially prominent than he. Nevertheless, the object of his affections doesn't entirely dismiss him, but rather, keeps him hanging on without showing any affection. Too late does Alexander discover the reason.
Director
Maximilian Schell
Producer
Maximilian Schell
Screenwriter
John Gould, Maximilian Schell
Distributor
Universal Marion Corporation
Rating
R
Genre
Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 7, 1970, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Jun 29, 2010
Runtime
1h 30m
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