I think this film completely misses the point of Chekhov's play. The melancholy arises entirely from unpleasant dripping, dirty surroundings and is maybe extended by the fact that the characters are all in deep depression and act somewhat hysterical. It doesn't work and think towards its heart-wrenchingly melancholy conclusion, but is simply gloomy the whole way through. It makes a good art-house film, but with the legendary actors and script it had to work with, it could have been so much more. The actors seem bored stiff. Even actor-legend Smoktunovsky seems to miss the point and falls back on playing anger and hysteria. There is never any moment to contrast the the gloomy mood, there isn't enough tension between hope and despair, its just monotonous. This isn't a bad film, and I'm sure the cinematography is very professional and important, but Uncle Vanya isn't about colors and dripping roofs and dirty surroundings, its about the people. And for some reason, Konchalovsky ignored all the fantastic language and acting potential he had to work with and focused instead on giving the film a depressing autumn color scheme.
Review of Uncle Vanya
