Acclaimed international director Michael Cacoyannis and a dream cast of British screen talent revive Anton Chekhov's masterpiece of imprisonment in wealth and regret. Working from his own translation, Cacoyannis expands and condenses "The Cherry Orchard" with a fidelity that preserves Chekhov's emotional extravagance and unblinking eye for human frailty. In pre-Revolutionary Russia, Madame Ranevskaya (Charlotte Rampling) returns to her decaying estate after an exile in Paris. Ranevskaya's dissolute brother Gaev (Alan Bates), her insecure adopted daughter Varya (Katrin Cartlidge) and dotty butler Feers (Michael Gough) are as ill-prepared for the grim financial realities that threaten their existence as Ranevskaya is. At stake are the estate and its beloved cherry orchard, the pride of this extended family of aristocrats and freed serfs. As spring gives way to summer and memory threatens reason, the family must either find their footing in a Russia turned upside down or flounder in a sea of longing and doubt, a bittersweet luxury that they can literally no longer afford. (amazon.com)

Tagline: n/a
Runtime: 141 mins
MPAA Rating: Not Rated