Cherry Orchard Fiasco

[joanna bujes]

Warning to all: the current adaptation of Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard" with 
Charlotte Rampling and Alan Bates is a piece of garbage. It was so bad, I 
actually went home right after and read the play. That reading revealed 
that Cacoyannis (the director) managed to gut the script of every 
politically significant line in it, and the resulting production is an 
tepid mess of existential mooning.

A much better effort was Malle's "Vanya of 42 Street" (now on video): a 
low-budget but very able rendering of "Uncle Vanya."

If there are other films of Chekhov plays, please let me know. A few years 
ago, I saw a Russian film of "Lady and the Dog." It was magnificent, but I 
think it was a rare find: Pacific Film Archive at U.C. Berkley decided to 
play it on Valentine's Day.

Joanna