Dark Eyes (1987 film)
Dark Eyes | |
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![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Nikita Mikhalkov |
Written by | Alexander Adabashyan Nikita Mikhalkov Suso Cecchi d'Amico Anton Chekhov (stories) |
Produced by | |
Starring | Marcello Mastroianni Marthe Keller Yelena Safonova Pina Cei Vsevolod Larionov Innokenti Smoktunovsky |
Cinematography | Franco Di Giacomo |
Edited by | |
Music by | Francis Lai |
Distributed by | |
Release date | 9 September 1987 |
Running time | 118 minutes |
Countries | Italy Soviet Union |
Language | Italian / Russian / French |
Dark Eyes (Italian: Oci ciornie; Russian: Очи чёрные óchi chjórnyje) is a 1987 Italian and Russian film. Set in Italy and Russia in the years before the First World War, it tells the story of a married Italian who falls in love with a married Russian woman. Starring Marcello Mastroianni and Yelena Safonova,[1] it received positive reviews from critics.
Plot[]
At a table in the empty restaurant of an Italian ship, Romano is sitting drinking. Pavel, a middle-aged Russian on his honeymoon cruise, enters and the two men strike up a conversation. When Romano says he once went to Russia because of a woman, Pavel asks to hear his story.
From a poor family, he qualified as an architect and married a rich woman who inherited a bank. With little to do, on pretence of illness he took a holiday on his own at an expensive spa. There he met Anna, a Russian woman on her own, who told him she was from a poor family and married a rich man for security. After one night together, she left Romano a letter and disappeared back to Russia.
Deciding that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, on pretence of exploring business opportunities he travelled to her remote town. While her husband was hosting a reception for the distinguished foreigner, Romano pursued Anna around the outbuildings and caught her in the henhouse. He said, if she promised to wait for him, he would come back to claim her.
Rushing back to Italy, he found that his wife's bank had collapsed and bailiffs were stripping their palatial house, which was up for sale. Holding the letter she had found, she asked if he had a woman in Russia. He said no, and the two were reconciled. Later she inherited an unexpected legacy and was able to resume their opulent lifestyle.
Pavel says his wife had left an unhappy marriage in the provinces and it took a long time to convince her to trust him and marry again. At this point, the ship's cook comes in and curtly orders Romano to lay the tables for lunch. Pavel goes to look for his wife, who is Anna.
Source material[]
The film was adapted from (or rather inspired by) four Anton Chekhov's stories, notably The Lady with the Dog, by a Soviet-Italian team that included Alexander Adabashyan, Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Nikita Mikhalkov. The latter directed. The title refers to a famous Russian song.
Cast[]
- Marcello Mastroianni as Romano Patroni
- Silvana Mangano as Elisa, Romano's wife
- Marthe Keller as Tina, Romano's mistress
- Isabella Rossellini as Claudia, Romano's daughter
- Pina Cei as Elisa's mother
- Yelena Safonova as Anna Sergeyevna, the Governor's wife
- Innokenti Smoktunovsky as the Governor of Sysoyev
- Vsevolod Larionov as Pavel Alekseev
Location[]
Principal shooting took place at the Montecatini Terme in Tuscany, in the Volga town of Kostroma, and in Leningrad (Vladimir Palace, Peter and Paul Fortress).
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Dark Eyes has an approval rating of 100% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 9 reviews, and an average rating of 7.84/10.[2]
Awards[]
Mastroianni received the award for Best Actor at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival[3] and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Safonova was awarded the David di Donatello as Best Actress. Costume Designer Carlo Diappi was awarded the Ciak d'oro (Golden Ciak).[4]
See also[]
- The Lady with the Dog (1960)
References[]
- ^ "NY Times: Dark Eyes". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-04-03. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
- ^ "Dark Eyes (1987)".
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Dark Eyes". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
- ^ https://www.ciakmagazine.it/ciak-doro-2018-tutti-i-premi/
External links[]
- 1987 films
- 1987 in the Soviet Union
- 1987 drama films
- Italian films
- Italian-language films
- Russian-language films
- Films based on short fiction
- Films based on works by Anton Chekhov
- Films set in Russia
- Films set in the Soviet Union
- Films shot in Russia
- Soviet films
- Films directed by Nikita Mikhalkov
- Films with screenplays by Suso Cecchi d'Amico
- Films scored by Francis Lai
- Soviet multilingual films
- Italian multilingual films
- 1980s multilingual films
- Soviet drama films
- Italian drama films