Doctor Zhivago (1965)

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

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

Boris Pasternak (from the novel by), Robert Bolt (screenplay)

Stars:

Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin

Won 5 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Omar Sharif	...	Yuri
Julie Christie	...	Lara
Geraldine Chaplin	...	Tonya
Rod Steiger	...	Komarovsky
Alec Guinness	...	Yevgraf
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

Storyline

Lara inspires lechery in Komarovsky (her mother's lover who is a master at surviving whoever runs Russia) and can't compete with passion for the revolution of the man she marries, Pasha. Her true love is Zhivago who also loves his wife. Lara is the one who inspires poetry. The story is narrated by Zhivago's half brother Yevgraf, who has made his career in the Soviet Army. At the beginning of the film he is about to meet a young woman he believes may be the long lost daughter of Lara and Zhivago.

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Plot Keywords:

love | russia | epic | bolshevik | poetry | 

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Taglines:

Turbulent were the times and fiery was the love story of Zhivago, his wife and the passionate, tender Lara.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature themes

Details

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

31 December 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Doktor Zjivago

Filming Locations:

Alberta, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$111,722,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Carlo Ponti Production, Sostar S.A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

197 min 192 min (1999 re-release) 200 min (1992 re-release)

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) 6-Track Stereo (Linear PCM)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Lean wanted to make a more intimate, romantic piece after the big budget - and action-oriented - excesses of Lawrence of Arabia.

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Goofs

During the scenes portraying the protest parade and the subsequent attack of the soldiers, it is supposed to be a bitterly cold night but there are no visible breath clouds from humans or horses which proves that the scenes were filmed in a warm environment. Also, observers on the balcony absently place their hands in "snow" on the railing.

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Quotes

Razin, Liberius' Lieutenant: [Zhivago is trying to aide a wounded White soldier] It does not matter!
Zhivago: Have you ever loved a woman, Razin?
Razin, Liberius' Lieutenant: I once had a wife and four children.

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Connections

Spoofed in Doktor Zi-Vengos (1968)

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Soundtracks

"Prelude in G minor, Op.23-5"
(1901) (uncredited)
Composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff

User Reviews

One of the Best Epic Films Ever Made

I can't remember the origin of the quote, but I remember it distinctly. A Communist Party official of the Soviet Union, justifying the Bolshevik destruction of Tsarist Russia, told a foreign observer, `If you want to make an omelet, you've got to break some eggs.' The visitor replied, `I see the broken eggs, but Where's the omelet?' Dr. Zhivago is set at the time when the Bolsheviks, feverishly ideological, were creating their socialist state. The epochal drama that unfolds is the age-old question about whether the ends justify the means.

As materialists (matter precedes spirit, not vice versa), the Bolsheviks believed that they had found the holy grail of human progress in Marxism-Leninism, and were now able to assume the reins of history in their own hands. They believed that their violence was not only justified, but necessary, oblivious to the fact that they, too, somehow felt the angel of medieval teleology smiling over their shoulders.

In contrast to the Bolsheviks, Zhivago's ethos, if he had one, was almost identical to Kant's `categorical imperative,' which had just one axiom: treat people as ends in themselves, and not as ends to a mean. There couldn't be a sharper moral contrast.

There's a fabulous scene midway through the movie that highlights the difference in moral attitude. Dr. Zhivago confronts a communist functionary who has ordered the destruction of a village, a hamlet suspected of aiding the Mensheviks by selling them horses. To the Bolsheviks, if you weren't 100 percent behind them, you were a `counterrevolutionary,' sorta like Dubya's idea that you're either for us, or against us. And so Strelnikov, the passionate Bolshevik, glibly justifies his actions to Dr. Zhivago as easy as if he were tossing his hair aside, saying that the annihilation of the village, however cruel, is necessary to make a point. Zhivago replies: `Your point; their village.'

I love this film, a timeless epic. If there's a more beautiful heroine in all of movie-making history than Julie Christie (Lara), I'm not aware of it. And Omar Sharif is stunning as Iuri Zhivago, who heals the body with emetics, scalpels, antiseptic, and gauze, while he heals the soul with his poetry. Although the movie is three hours and 20 minutes long, the cinematography is so efficient, evocative, and densely layered that one hardly notices. This is, in my opinion, one of the best films of all time.