This has to be one of the best, most touching movies I have ever seen. The Chekov story is done with superb casting, direction and total production. I wish there were more of them but some of the leading characters have now passed away.
shareUnfortunately this was the last movie Silvana Mangano made before her death in Dec. 1989.
I have had a life time fascination with her which I cannot explain.
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I found myself feeling sorry for everybody in the movie; for Romano, especially for his incredibly patient wife, and also for the little Russian woman Romano chased after. Gosh, Romano was just so relentlessly worthless!
shareOne of the most poignant movies I've ever seen.
shareRomano was not worthless. He at least attempted to break out of the loveless relationship that he was in. At heart he realized that he could not make the total commitment that the Russian woman would give him. He was weak- but definitely not "worthless." This is a beautiful movie with incredible lyrical moments.
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Approximate quotes:
Pavel, at the end of this film:
"Everything we do... is written somewhere..."
The Duke, in King of Hearts:
"The greatest journeys are taken through a window."
Someone in "The Magus":
"We are all guilty because we have failed to love."
So, Romano comes to Russia looking at everything through his sheet of indestructible glass, and finally throws it away, which frees him, at least for a while.
Maybe Romano realized that his love for the Russian girl could not be made permanent, but his agony is knowing that he didn't follow through. So he succeeded in loving, but failed at it as well.
Maybe she can't love completely either, since she can't love Pavel, who adores her.
"These Russians, such fun they have !"
(Who said that?)
And lastly,
Somerset Maugham:
"The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit."
Yes, Romano is a bit of a buffoon and a dreamer, who fails to face up to his his responsibilities. That’s why he ends up as a steward on a little steamer. But he is a man, he has lived a life, he has loved intriguing women and, whether it is all true (and it doesn’t matter in the least if it is not), what a story he has to tell! And if he has a touch of the clown in him, remember that clowns also cry (cue Pagliacci) and that some of the people he meets in Russia probably outdo him in that department.
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