Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

Boris Pasternak (novel)
Robert Bolt (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 December 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The entertainment event of the year!

Plot:

Life of a Russian doctor/poet who, although married, falls for a political activist's wife and experiences hardships during the Bolshevik Revolution.

Plot Keywords:

Russia | Epic | Bolshevik | Russian Revolution | Poetry

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Omar Sharif	...	Dr. Yuri Zhivago
Julie Christie	...	Lara
Geraldine Chaplin	...	Tonya
Rod Steiger	...	Komarovsky
Alec Guinness	...	Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago
Tom Courtenay	...	Pasha
Siobhan McKenna	...	Anna
Ralph Richardson	...	Alexander
Rita Tushingham	...	The Girl
Jeffrey Rockland	...	Sasha
Tarek Sharif	...	Yuri at 8 years old
Bernard Kay	...	The Bolshevik
Klaus Kinski	...	Kostoyed
Gérard Tichy	...	Liberius (as Gerard Tichy)
Noel Willman	...	Razin

Also Known As:

Doctor Zhivago (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Doktor Zjivago (Finland: Swedish title) (Sweden) [sv]
Doutor Jivago (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Docteur Jivago (France) [fr]
Doktor Schiwago (West Germany) [de]
Doktor Zhivago (Greece) [el]
Doktor Zivago (Denmark) [da]
Doktor Zsivágó (Hungary) [hu]
Doktor Zywago (Poland) [pl]
Dr. Jivago (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Il dottor Zivago (Italy) [it]
Tohtori Zivago (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature themes.

Runtime:

197 min | UK:192 min (1999 re-release) | UK:193 min | UK:200 min (1992 re-release)

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) | DTS (re-release) (35 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:GP (re-rating) (1971) | Canada:PG (video rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (1995) | UK:15 (1987) | UK:A (1966) | UK:PG (1992) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Alberta, Canada

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Carlo Ponti wanted to shoot the film in the Soviet Union, but the government refused his requests. David Lean visited Yugoslavia and the Scandinavian countries in search of locations. Both areas were too cold and the bureaucracy in Yugoslavia was too prohibitive. In the end, the majority of the film was shot in Spain.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Yevgraf gives Tonya the book with poems, it has its author listed by initials only. He says that he's not the author and that Y. A. Zhivago stands for Yuri Andreevich Zhivago. But the book is clearly written in Cyrillic, and so Yevgraf's name starts with a letter "Ye", while Yuri's name starts with a letter "Yu", which are two different letters. Tonya couldn't possibly mistake Yevgraf for the poems' author.

Quotes:

Lara: Wouldn't it have been lovely if we'd met before?
Zhivago: Before we did? Yes.
Lara: We'd have got married, had a house and children. If we'd had children, Yuri, would you like a boy or girl?
Zhivago: I think we may go mad if we think about all that.
Lara: I shall always think about it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Wyatt Earp: Walk with a Legend (1994) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Prelude in G minor, Op.23-5

Drowned in the Purity of Sentiment

No wonder the highest directorial achievement for direction of the British Academy of Film and Television is named after David Lean. An artist who knew how to combine great performances, with breathtaking settings, haunting soundtrack, in order to create works of art that are to remain as pillars for the future generations of film-makers.

"Doctor Zhivago" is definitely one of his most outstanding works, a film that breathes with life, and suffers with passion. Neither, though, of the credited people can take as much credit for it, as David Lean. Omar Sharif delivers one of his best performances of his career, Julie Christie has never been as stunning, or Rod Steiger as Komarovsky or Tom Courtenay as Antipov ever left more memorable performances than these ones. Not even Maurice Jarre, who composed one of the most unforgettable themes in film history, or Robert Bolt, for his skillful adaptation on Pasternak's difficult novel, not even Freddy Young's cinematography, can rise above the vibration of genius, which is David Lean. We almost feel the complexity of the universe collapsing on us with a mad power that we instantly become part of it, and fall in love with all its particles.

For those who haven't seen the film, this might make little sense, and it can give a misleading understanding of what one is to expect. "Doctor Zhivago" is a poet, who at the beginning of the 20th Century is caught in the historical Bolshevik revolution. An outstanding doctor, married to his childhood friend, Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin in a warm performance), finds that there is beauty beyond deceit, love beyond commitment, by starting an affair with an enigmatic lady which appears often in his path in the most unnoticeable of moments. Their destiny is as confused as Russia in the turmoil started by the Reds, it is shaped by history without their approval. There is no solution for a country that abandoned its passions in its desire of self-improvement, just as for the two lovers, which find themselves abandoned in the middle of the Siberian taiga.

This is a slow film and for the good reasons. We are allowed to breathe the story, to give it momentum, and to judge it from within, as if the choices were not Yury's, Lara's or Tonya's, but our own creation. And this is the brilliance of Lean's direction. The story transcends time and space, and it melts within the triviality of our life. Beyond it, we are left with nothing but love, pure and blindingly real.