Lush music by Francis Lai announces an unquenchably romantic piece based mostly on Chekhov's Lady with a Little Dog. Marcello Mastroianni (Oscar-nominated for this performance) makes dazzling use of his entire repertoire as a working-class Romeo seduced by riches into a life of opulent idleness within an increasingly barren marriage. Until, that is, he conquers a Russian woman, who falls in love with him, but flees back to her husband in Moscow. It's one of those films full of scenes that conjure up old paintings, in some of which you can feel an atmosphere of sunshine, or heavy mists or simply sumptuous emptiness. Despite some stretches that touch tedium, director Nikita Mikhalkov's skill keeps the tale alive all the way to an ending entirely in keeping with the mood of the film.


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