The Seagull (1978)

At a country estate in Russia, a famous actress (Zoe Caldwell) arrives with her lover (Michael Gambon) for a brief vacation. Her brother (Alan Webb) and her son (Stephen Rea) live on the estate but tensions mount when the son feels humiliated by his mother's rejection of his playwrighting skills and the girl (Julia Schofeld) he loves finds herself attracted to his mother's lover. Based on the classic play by Anton Chekhov and directed by Michael Lindsay Hogg (NASTY HABITS). Chekhov's great play isn't easy to get "right" and if it isn't, it just lies there with only the acting to save it from complete boredom. The play is filmed on actual locations so it doesn't have that stage bound feeling so many BBC film adaptations of plays have but I still found it pretty lifeless. Caldwell is a great stage actress but her Arkadina here displays none of the charm or presence one would assume her character would need for us understand how the others gravitate toward her. Two supporting players take over: in most productions I've seen, the gloomy Masha recedes into the background but here, Georgina Hale brings an intensity to Masha that pushes her into the core of the play. Similarly, Anthony Bate's doctor brings an attractive authority that I'd not seen in that character before. With Pauline Delaney and John Kane.