THE CHERRY ORCHARD (1999) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Michael Cacoyannis
Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates, Katrin Cartlidge,
Owen Teale, Andrew Howard, Melanie Lynskey,
Gerald Butler, Ian McNeice, Michael Gough
Chekhov's 1904 drama about a family of Russian aristocrats rusting away on a crumbling estate, waiting (literally) for the ax to fall and resolutely doing nothing about it. There's some nice choreography in the way Cacoyannis moves the actors around, and the camera with them, but ultimately the movie can't help looking like what it is: a stately screen version of a century-old stage play. It's very well acted (of course), with an especially welcome turn by Michael Gough as the ancient butler, Feers, who not only accepts his state in life, he's devoted to it, and who's not quite as deaf or absent-minded as everybody thinks he is.
Michael Gough
(1917-2011)
