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Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger ... see more see more... , Alec Guinness , Siobhan McKenna , Ralph Richardson , Rita Tushingham , Jeffrey Rockland , Bernard Kay , Klaus Kinski , Gérard Tichy , Noel Willman , Geoffrey Keen , Adrienne Corri , Jack MacGowran , Mark Eden , Erik Chitty , Roger Maxwell , Wolf Frees , Gwen Nelson , Lucy Westmore , Lili Murati , Peter Madden , José María Caffarel , Inigo Jackson , María Martín , Tarek Sharif , José Nieto , Luana Alcaniz , Emilio Carrer , Katherine Ellison , Maria Vico

Based on the Nobel Prize-winning novel by Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago covers the years prior to, during, and after the Russian Revolution, as seen through the eyes of poet/physician Yuri Zhivago (... read more read more...Omar Sharif). In the tradition of Russian novels, a multitude of characters and subplots intertwine within the film's 197 minutes (plus intermission). Zhivago is married to Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin), but carries on an affair with Lara (Julie Christie), who has been raped by ruthless politician Komarovsky (Rod Steiger). Meanwhile, Zhivago's half-brother Yevgraf (Alec Guinness) and the mysterious, revenge-seeking Strelnikoff (Tom Courteney) represent the "good" and "bad" elements of the Bolshevik revolution. Composer Maurice Jarre received one of Doctor Zhivago's five Oscars, with the others going to screenwriter Robert Bolt, cinematographer Freddie Young, art directors John Box and Terry Marsh, set decorator Dario Simoni, and costumer Phyllis Dalton. The best picture Oscar, however, went to The Sound of Music. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Critics

85% liked it

33 critics

PG-13, 3 hr. 17 min.

Directed by: David Lean

Release Date: December 22, 1965

Keywords: epic

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DVD Release Date: January 1, 1998

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Stats: 2,320 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,320)

  • hunterjt13
    January 16, 2012
    hunterjt13
    Against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution, a poet/doctor struggles to "just live" with his wife and mistress.
    It's probably cliche and easy to say that a three-hour-nineteen-minute-long film is too long, but Doctor Zhivago is too long. In fact, this is the second ... read moretime I watched it; the first time I fell asleep (I actually fell asleep this time too, but Netflix let me rewind it). As a project, pulling off the production of such a massive film is a tribute to the filmmakers' talents and organization, and I can see that director David Lean attempted to render the lengths and breadths of the characters' dramatic lives, the upheaval to which they're subjected, but too much time is spent traversing the Russian landscape for my taste. I guess I'm saying that I get the film's reasoning, but I can't say that it makes for compelling entertainment.
    I liked Omar Sharif's performance, especially the simple passion with which he says, "Just live" about his intentions after a long trek. And Rod Steiger is always great, especially in villainous roles like this one. "Don't fool yourself: this was rape," he says at one point in the film, and the cold simplicity in his voice makes it one of the more compelling moments in the film.
    Julie Christie's character and acting can be easily reduced to "other woman" instead of "Lara," and I thought the film could have spent more time developing the reasons for Zhivago's affair with her. What makes her his bright-eyed muse? In a film this long, it's surprising that such an important element of the film feels so underdeveloped.
    Overall, if there's a condensed version, see that.
  • blacksheepboy
    March 26, 2010
    blacksheepboy
    A 200-minute-long epic set during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The first three hours are involving and excellent, presenting some fascinating characters like the ones played by Courtenay and Steiger, but then the film collapses in the last half hour, when most characters g... read moreo through inexplicable changes of personality and the plot reaches a pathetic conclusion.
  • smith44
    March 14, 2010
    smith44
    From Pasternak's sweeping epic novel, set in the World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution It's strenght lies in it's portraal of the realities of life in Russia after the 1917 Communist Revolution. The most memorable thing of all is the romantic score.
  • SirPant
    January 25, 2010
    SirPant
    David Lean's classic adaptation is both epic and masterful, worth every bum-numbing minute!
  • bottcorecords1
    January 22, 2010
    bottcorecords1
    Doctor Zhivago is a sprawling, three-and-a-half hour epic involving the lives of three lovers trapped in the Soviet Union around the time of the Russian revolution. I'm not sure whether the revolution is the backdrop of the love story, or the love story is the backdrop for the r... read moreevolution, as both aspects are integral to the film. The movie begins with Doctor Zhivago's brother (Alec Guinness), a high ranking officer, is looking for his brother's long lost daughter. When he finds the girl he suspects of being his niece, he tells her the story of her parents, of how her father was both a poet and a doctor, and her mother was his muse. As he tells the story, one gets the sense of Dr. Zhivago the family man and physician, but never a sense of who he is as a person. It's obvious he cares for things, but not why he does. He marries the woman who is basically his adopted sister, and he seems to genuinely love her, but the relationship isn't defined beyond that. He supports the communist revolution, but only in it's vaguest terms. He seems to have no determination in his life, other than in the poetry he writes. That's the one thing that moves him above all else. His muse, Lara (Julie Christie) leads quite a different life. She's driven by passion, from her affair with the amoral and sadistic Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), to her engagement to the young idealist, who believes in black or white moral absolutes. Neither of them is quite what they claim they are. When the young idealist is struck down by the Czar's soldiers, he takes a more hardline stance. It's his story that provides a snapshot of the revolution, that maybe communism is motivated more by revenge than by justice. During WWI, Zhivago is shipped to the front to provide medical care, and it's here he meets Lara for the first time. Their parting after the war is uneventful and Zhivago returns home to his wife to find their home has been co-opted by the government, and they are now sharing it with several other families. Zhivago takes it all in stride, trying to be supportive of the new government, but he soon grows weary of watching his family starve and freeze to death. After he's nearly arrested for taking some old fence boards for firewood, the family heads off to the adopted father's country estate. They find the government has also taken that home, but not the servant's shack, and so they set up house in that instead. But really, there's no safe place in the new Soviet Union. As one leading party member tells a soldier, after the battles are over, it's the police who will maintain the government, not the soldiers, and thus begins the campaing to stamp out free thought. As I've said before, Doctor Zhivago is really two movies in one, the story of a man caught in a love triangle and the story of the Russian revolution. I think the revolution aspect works a little bit better, but both are well done. David Lean's directing style is reminiscent of 40s film noir, especially the way he lights the actors' eyes in certain scenes, but he also makes visual reference to other epics that have gone before, such as Gone With The Wind. Omar Shariff's performance is subtle, yet also intense. It seems like an incongruous combination, but he does all his acting with his eyes. I used the word "sprawling" before, and while it can apply to most "epics", it's especially true of this one. It's not as focused as Lean's other works ("Bridge on the River Kwai", "Lawrence of Arabia"), and I don't think it could have been. It's a film that was meant to be spread out and around. Even so, it's incredibly absorbing to watch.
  • Chiefilms
    March 7, 2008
    Chiefilms
    Long, Long, Long love story involving using the history of Russia and its transformation to the USSR as a backdrop. Good film, might doze off a bit.
  • Redlats
    February 17, 2008
    Redlats
    To me Dr Zhivago is an unforgettable movie. Following one amazing person through a period before, during and after Russia's Bolshevik revolution. I've always loved the music as well. One of my top ten movies.
  • garyX
    May 17, 2007
    garyX
    A classic of cinema from the master of the epic, David Lean. A love story that spans history and politics, brilliantly acted with beautiful cinematography. Even this cynical old git couldn't help but be captivated.
  • mjgildea
    October 27, 2006
    mjgildea
    One of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen.
  • fb720603734
    April 8, 2011
    fb720603734
    The problem with seeing a film 46 years after it was released is that all of the oblique references you've had of it --- the theme music, the snow, the fur! --- all of them feel much different now than they would have way back when. This sweeping epic set in Russia during the Bo... read morelshevik Revolution is a product of its time. It's melodramatic, stagey, silly, often heavy-handed, unevenly acted, overly scored, and ends with a whimper, yet...I was totally immersed in it from start to finish.

    When people say, "they don't make them like that anymore", DOCTOR ZHIVAGO is a definitive example. Behold the Russian characters speaking with proper English accents! Gaze adoringly at all of the little children with their creepily angelic line deliveries! Get swept away by the classic David Lean wide shots and the fur blowing perfectly over Julie Christie's perfect features!

    What sets this film apart from the usual epics is that most have a love triangle as their central story. Here, we have a love quadrangle, which complicates matters and kept me interested. Add Rod Steiger to the mix, and it's really a 5-way orgy!

    Despite the sanitized technicolor splendor of it all, somehow, I managed to feel the hideousness of the times. Desperate people suffering under government oppression are presented with such varying reactions to it - from the emotionally shut-down (and wonderful) Tom Courtenay, to the power hungry Rod Steiger (hamming it up as only he knew how), to the anguished Omar Sharif (with the digitally restored print it became obvious that his eyes were horribly bloodshot throughout production - man there were some long hours put into making this one!).

    The language of this type of cinema has vanished and been replaced with either a docu-reality aesthetic or hyper-CGI-action. We're no longer used to seeing heightened and studio-bound drama anymore, so we tend to laugh at its excesses:

    - Sharif and Christie riding a carriage across the tundra should have been holy hell, but they make it look fun
    - When a main character is shot, we see their glasses fall to the ground instead of the graphic blood spattering. This heavy symbolism gets a laugh now, but back then, I'm sure it had an impact.
    - When Sharif returns to Christie after many years apart, he is covered in snow and ice so overdone, it looks like someone had a bukkake party on his face.
    - The theme song (which I always thought was some sort of Parisian tourist melody) is played so often, that it drives you a little nuts. Back then, it was most likely the most romantic thing anyone had ever heard.
    - Nowadays everyone wants blood to look real, but here, when spilled in the Moscow streets during a protest, it looks like Ralph Lauren Hunting Coat Red paint.
    - This film is so old-fashioned, it had an Overture and a 15 minute intermission. And the best part is the music sting and shock cut to the INTERMISSION card just as a main character surprisingly reappears. Damn, I wish TITANIC had done that.

    Finally, the politics of this film are all over the map. I'm STILL not sure if its pro-communist, capitalist, or just pro-kissing hard and dramatically. The imagery surrounding the communist workers is so striking, I'm gonna go with that. See this film with your next doomed lover!

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Critic Reviews

August 24, 2008
TIME Magazine

Literate, oldfashioned, soul-filling and thoroughly romantic. Full Review

Dave Kehr
August 13, 2007
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

David Lean's 1965 adaptation of Pasternak's romance of the Russian Revolution is intelligent and handsomely mounted, though it doesn't use its length to build to a particularly complex emotional effect. Full Review

A.D. Murphy
August 13, 2007
A.D. Murphy, Variety

One of the most meticulously designed and executed films. Full Review

Bosley Crowther
May 20, 2003
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Mr. Bolt has reduced the vast upheaval of the Russian Revolution to the banalities of a doomed romance. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Although its portentous historical drama evaporates once you return to the fresh air, watching it can be seductive. Full Review

S. Jhoanna Robledo
December 30, 2010
S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media

Epic drama combines romance, politics, mature themes. Full Review

Kevin Carr
May 13, 2010
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

it is to be respected for the massive success and artistry of the decade in which it was made Full Review

Phil Hall
April 29, 2010
Phil Hall, Film Snobbery

A triumph of great entertainment. Whether it is great filmmaking is a matter of taste. Full Review

John J. Puccio
April 26, 2010
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

...a passionate movie about passionate people in passionate times. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
January 29, 2009
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

[Lean] seems out of his element. Full Review

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Doctor Zhivago Trivia

  • Who is Doctor Zhivago ?  Answer »
  • 'Ah, then it's a gift.' Is a quote from which 1965 film? (Omar Sharif/julie christie is in this movie,set in Russia)  Answer »
  • 'Ah, then it's a gift.' -- 1965 (Hint: Omar Sharif is in this movie.)  Answer »
  • Where was "Doctor Zhivago" filmed?  Answer »
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