moviedude1
During the 1800's Britain, a somewhat younger boy finds love with a girl who, as a young princess, manipulates her older suitors. But he finds, instead, a game of deceit played by the most shocking suitors of all.Nick Stahl and Kirsten Dunst hold their own very well in this film. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fan of time pieces such as this, but once I gave the plot a chance (I had to re-start the movie twice), I found myself wanting to see the end of it and find out what happens to the main characters. Based on two other short stories, the two are combined by the director to keep one's interest, as long as they're in the mood for a film such as this.5 out of 10 stars.
IlyaOgnev
Answer for somebody's question: This is original screenplay was wrote with use Turgenev's novel "First Love" (Turgenev is Russian writer). This movie filmed almost as original novel... But there are some interesting details was erased. For example: Voldemar have not seen the Zinaida before her dead. When he visited hotel there she lived, she was dead 4 days back. In movie showed that he was beside her when she was in throes of dead. But Kirsten have played this role very excellent!!! She was soooo beautiful. And she showed us The Talent.
roger_ellis
God save the czar! This has that beautiful actress from "Jewel in the Crown", they're all stuffy and nice. Nice touch to the film, blends European flavor with the rich texture of character driven story. Scenery became a character that added to film.
mickey dripping
This film is very strange. It looks picturesque. It moves at the pace of a snail. It mimics great Russian epics such as "War and Peace", but no-one will take credit for the screenplay. Who wrote the story? Is it an original screenplay?Kirsten Dunst is a Russian Princess who collects a crowd of fawning sycophantic admirers who salivate over her every motion and jostle with each other for her favours. Nick Stall is the youngest and fawns the hardest. He discovers that his Dad is the one who is sampling the ladies intimate delights and tragedy looms. There is never any explicit revelation of exactly what everyone is doing and no confrontation or conflict. Consequently there is no excitement and the story struggles to hold the viewers attention.The period, incidentally, is mid 19th century Russia at the time of the Crimean War and not Britain as stated in the plot outline. Don't blame the British just because the film is slow and boring!Stahl looks such a twit in his ensign's uniform with a hat that is seven sizes too big.
AD
