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IMDb > Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Doctor Zhivago
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Doctor Zhivago (1965)

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User Rating: 8.0/10 (21,472 votes)
Photos (see all 67 | slideshow)

Overview

Director:
David Lean
Writers:
Boris Pasternak (novel)
Robert Bolt (screenplay)
Release Date:
22 December 1965 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance | War more
Tagline:
The entertainment event of the year! more
Plot:
Life of a Russian doctor/poet who, although married, falls for a political activist's wife and experiences hardships during the Bolshevik Revolution. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won 5 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 10 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(15 articles)
Egyptian Director Chahine In Coma (From WENN. 16 June 2008, 5:11 AM, PDT)
Christie Admits to Cosmetic Surgery (From WENN. 5 April 2007)
User Comments:
Flawless beauty - the fact that it's not Lean's best is beside the point more

Cast

 (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for mature themes.
Runtime:
197 min | Sweden:160 min | Sweden:192 min (2001 re-release) | Sweden:200 min (1998 re-release) | UK:192 min (1999 re-release) | UK:193 min | UK:200 min (1992 re-release)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) | DTS (re-release) (35 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)
Certification:
Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | West Germany:12 (f) | Brazil:12 | UK:A (1966) | UK:PG (1992) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (1995) | South Korea:12 | UK:15 (1987) | Iceland:12 | USA:GP (re-rating) (1971) | USA:Approved (original rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11
Filming Locations:
Alberta, Canada more
MOVIEmeter: ?
V 18% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
4000 daffodils were imported from the Netherlands and replaced on the outskirts of the mountain town of Soria, where Zhivago's country estate was located. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: When a near-frozen Zhivago gets back to civilization after deserting the Red Partisans, he is almost run over by a train. After jumping out of the way, he asks a man in front of the train station where he is. The sign in Cyrillic on the station reads (due to transposed letters) "Yuryaitin", not "Yuriyatin". more
Quotes:
Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago: [narrating over a military parade in Moscow] In bourgeois terms, it was a war between the Allies and Germany. In Bolshevik terms, it was a war between the Allied and German upper classes - and which of them won was of total indifference. My task was to organize defeat, so as to hasten the onset of revolution... more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Munsters' Revenge (1981) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Prelude in G minor, Op.23-5 more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
29 out of 34 people found the following comment useful:-
Flawless beauty - the fact that it's not Lean's best is beside the point, 12 April 2002
10/10
Author: Spleen from Canberra, Australia

David Lean had just directed two of the greatest films ever made ("The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Lawrence of Arabia"), the more recent of which was easily the greater. As you'd expect "Doctor Zhivago" isn't as good. But this isn't to say that it's flawed in any way; there is, in fact, NOTHING wrong with it.

Of course, the previous two films had exceptionally strong stories; this one, while rich in incident, has almost no story - which would not be interpreted as a defect. The point of the film is to sketch a historical epoch by showing us the thin life-lines of a handful of people who lived through it. It's like looking at a stretch of a vast river and seeing the illuminated pathways of half a dozen or so minute particles. If there seems to be an undue amount of coincidence in the way these pathways repeatedly intersect ... well, we had the whole river to choose from.

It was fashionable to criticise Maurice Jarre's score at the time, but, in addition to being undeniably attractive and catchy, it comes across as a model of intelligent and tasteful scoring today. Bolt's script is based on less promising material than "Lawrence of Arabia" so is less inspired, but still flawlessly crafted. Particularly good are the gaps in the narrative. Some things we simply don't see: anything of Yevgraf's life before he enters the story, anything that happens to Pasha when he isn't in the vicinity of Zhivago ... but we have the material available to infer, and as it happens, it's the fact that we infer rather than see that makes the story feel so convincingly large.

Most of all, this is a beautiful film, with some of the most breathtaking location footage (it doesn't matter that it's Spain and Finland standing in for Russia) ever shot. As always, the real test is whether the characters look like they're really there (Moscow, the distant Russian countryside), their feet really touching the ground and leaving footprints. If "Doctor Zhivago" had done nothing but convey this impression so well it would still be a masterpiece.

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Message Boards

Discuss this title with other users on IMDb message board for Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
It's in the TOP 250! hawks_senator
Doctor Zhivago VS. Lawrence of Arabia ed56
Two different endings?? paul-difford
Dr Zhivago at the NFT JULY 2008 Lean Celebrations db-campbell
Dr Zhivago at the NFT JULY 2008 Lean Celebrations db-campbell
Never had warm feelings for Dr Zhivago (the character) mxt52
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