Andrew Scott as Laevsky playing Card.
I wanted to share my "coup de coeur" around my discovery of this brillant film produced by Donald Rosenfeld who brought us 4 masterpieces from James Ivory, including his best "Remains of the Day".
This is another delicate and smart story adapted from Anton Chekhov's novella THE DUEL.
Absolutely superb performances, brillantly shot by Dover Kosashvili.
I was about to write a lavish review when I found this one, by Michael Phillips, a Chicago Tribune Movie critic. I cannot...
Dover Kosashvili - Director
Born in Soviet Georgia in 1966, Dover Koshashvili immigrated to Israel with his family in 1972. He has directed two feature films and a short. His short, Im Hukim (By the Laws), first earned him acclaim at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, where it was considered for the Cinefoundation award.
In 2001, Koshashvili made his feature film directorial debut with Late Marriage, from a screenplay he wrote himse...
"The vibrant new film adaptation of the Anton Chekhov novella The Duel...nails also the essential qualities of comic indolence and dangerous yearning in Chekhov, which have proved so elusive time after time, in adaptation after adaptation.... The Duel looks beautiful, but it is not merely so. It doesn't carry the baggage of an important adaptation; it's deft, droll and languorously sexy.... This film is indeed something like a miracle." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune [Read the r...
Director: Dover Kosashvili.
The pivot point is an emotional and psychological triangle: a civil servant, Laevsky (Andrew Scott, appalling and appealing); his married mistress, Nadya (Fiona Glascott, a milky beauty); and a zoologist, Von Koren (Tobias Menzies, suitably rigid). The story gets going with Laevsky bitterly complaining about Nadya to an older friend, a doctor, Samoylenko (Niall Buggy). Laevsky claims to no longer care for Nadya, who, having left her husband, now inspires her lover’s contempt or, perhaps, fatigue. Like a caged animal, he wants out and claws at Samoylenko as Von Koren watches and seethes, stoking his loathing for Laevsky. For his part, by cutting to Nadya during Laevsky’s rant and capping the scene with a disapproving look from Von Koren, Mr. Kosashvili suggests that his own sympathies are divided.
I wanted to share my "coup de coeur" around my discovery of this brillant film produced by Donald Rosenfeld who brought us 4 masterpieces from James Ivory, including his best "Remains of the Day".This is another delicate and smart story adapted from Anton Chekhov's novella THE DUEL.Absolutely superb performances, brillantly shot by Dover Kosashvili.I was about to write a lavish review when I found this one, by Michael Phillips, a Chicago Tribune Movie critic. I cannot resist ...
CROSSROADS, the Co-Production Forum organized by the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, created by the TIFF Director Despina Mouzaki and headed by Marie-Pierre Macia, has selected 15 projects this year, based on the quality of the script, the creative team and the likelihood of it being produced. All selected projects are either produced or co-produced by a country in the Balkan or Mediterranean area or contain story elements linked to these regions. The selected projects come fr...
