DARK EYES
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
A brilliant, wonderfully enjoyable romantic comedy, DARK EYES is a beautifully photographed, absolutely riveting film.
Several of Anton Chekov's short stories form the basis for this charming film about Romano Patroni (Marcello Mastroianni) who relates a love story to a Russian passenger on the same cruise Romani is taking and who listens with rapt attention to Romano's story.
Romano, who is really an odd silly sort, relates in a series of flashbacks, that he had left his wealthy wife and beautiful home to visit a spa. There he fell in love with a Russian woman who has been having marital problems and he follows her to Russia. His astonished listener hears how Romano then returned to Italy, intending to divorce his wife and marry his Russian love.
Directed in a joint venture of The Soviet Union and Italy. The stories are blended into a single simple sad yet humorous story. There are scenes of comic invention intermingled with sadness, beauty, and infidelity. There is even a plug for our planet's health from a local Russian veterinarian who is against the building of a factory because it will mean cutting down the forest, polluting the waters. "You just don't live in your own home," he says, "your home is part of the countryside which is part of the rest of the world."
In Italian with English subtitles.
Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov who is also the man behind CLOSE TO EDEN and BURNT BY THE SUN.
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Ben Hoffman
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