Sibirskiy tsiryulnik (1998)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Nikita Mikhalkov

Writers:

Nikita Mikhalkov (story)
Rustam Ibragimbekov (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 February 1999 (Russia)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

He's Russian. That explains a lot.

Plot:

Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental...

Plot Keywords:

Russia | Military Academy | Firework | Drunkenness | Shrovetide

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Julia Ormond	...	Jane Callahan
Richard Harris	...	Douglas McCraken
Oleg Menshikov	...	André Tolstoi
Aleksei Petrenko	...	General Radlov
Marina Neyolova	...	The mother of Andrei Tolstoi
Vladimir Ilyin	...	Captain Mokin
Daniel Olbrychski	...	Kopnovsky
Anna Mikhalkova	...	Douniacha
Marat Basharov	...	Polievsky
Nikita Tatarenkov	...	Alibekov
Artyom Mikhalkov	...	Buturlin
Georgiy Dronov	...	Cadet Nazarov (as Yegor Dronov)
Avangard Leontyev	...	Andrei's Uncle
Robert Hardy	...	Forsten
Elizabeth Spriggs	...	Perepyolkina

Also Known As:

Сибирскiй цирюльникъ (Russia)
Il barbiere di Siberia (Italy)
Le barbier de Sibérie (France)
The Barber of Siberia (International: English title)

Runtime:

180 min | Russia:275 min (TV version)

Country:

Russia | France | Italy | Czech Republic

Language:

Russian | English | French | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:6 | South Korea:15 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Aldeia do Meco, Sesimbra, Portugal

Company:

Three T Productions

Trivia:

The winter in 1997 was uncommonly snowless and warm but the movie makers wanted to film snowy Moscow streets and the Kremlin. So they used hundreds of tons of artificial snow.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In a scene which takes place in 1905, a US flag is seen with 50 stars. The correct flag would have 45 Stars.

Soundtrack:

God Save the Tsar

fabulous

In its extended version -where the characters are fully developed and the relationships between them fully explored- this movie is incredible. Not just because Oleg Menshikov is a fabulous actor and Julia Ormond does some of the best acting I've seen her do, but because the plot is interesting and well written and the filming is beautiful.

In the butchered and censored short version crucial elements of the story are missing (especially the complete dialogues between Andrei and Jane and the majority of their scene in bed) and the movie is OK but nothing special.

Why would the studio even release such a lame version? Can you imagine a two hour version of Gone with the Wind? Or a 90 minute version of Titanic?

I saw the full 4 and ½ hours extended film in a cinema and no one walked out because it was too long. I saw the short version on the Cosmo channel and I really don't understand why the producers would stab themselves in the back by releasing a watered down and lacking version –presumably for audiences with short attention spans?- but I recommend avoiding the 3 hours one and holding out for the real film.