The Seagull (2018)

An aging actress (Annette Bening) spends her summers at the family's country estate where her son (Billy Howle) and her brother (Brian Dennehy) reside year round. This summer, she brings her latest lover (Corey Stoll) and his presence will trigger an eventual tragedy. Based on the classic play by Anton Chekhov and directed by Michael Mayer. The film attempts to make Chekhov's 1896 classic more cinematic rather than a filmed play and I'm not sure that was a good idea. The film opens with the play's ending as a prologue before the main titles before jumping to the beginning after the credits are finished. It's considerably opened up and Matthew J. Lloyd's gorgeous cinematography of the lush Monroe, New York location is a real treat as is the lovely Nico Muhly (THE READER) underscore. But it doesn't feel like Chekhov and although it's been years since I've read the play, much of the dialog doesn't sound Chekhovian. The actresses fare better than the actors. Annette Bening makes for a wonderful Arkadina showing us her narcissism and vanity, Saoirse Ronan encapsulates Nina's innocence and eventual tragic countenance and Elisabeth Moss brings an unexpected strength to the depressed Masha. But Corey Stoll's Trigorin has no pull and Billy Howle's Konstantin is superficial with none of the melancholy inherent in the character. See it for the actresses and the cinematography but it's a weak rendition of Chekhov. With Mare Winningham, Jon Tenney and Glenn Fleshler.