دکتر ژیواگو

BFI Film Classics

by Ian Christie, قاسم مومنی (Translator)

فیلم دکتر ژیگوا که بر اساس رمان بوریس پاسترناک ساخته شده به چشم برخی مظهر عاشقانه‌های مدرن برای برخی دیگر داستلن سرخوردگی از انقلاب روسیه است و بیش از هر چیز یادگاری (قهرمانانه یا منسوخ) از دوران اوج شاهکار‌های سینمایی به شمار می‌آید.

کتاب حاضر پژوهشی روشنگرانه است درباره روند ساخت فیلم ماجرای نگارش ماجرای نگارش رمان انتشار آن و به ویژه نقش طرح تولید فیلم در شکل گیری تصاویرفوق العاده آن. کریستی همچنین با نگاهی به ردپای فیلم طی نیم قرن گذشته تاثیر ماندگار آن بر سینما موسیقی مد و
فرهنگ عامه را پیش روی خواننده می‌گذارد.

یان کریستی مورخ سینما عضو آکادمی بریتانیا و استاد مدعو تاریخ فیلم در دانشگاه لندن است. از میان آثار متعدد او میتوان به کتاب‌هایی در خصوص سنمای روسیه آثار پاول و پرسبرگر آیزنشتاین اسکور سیزی و‌تری گیلیام اشاره کرد.

Genres: Film

139 pages, Paperback

First published November 11, 2015

About the author

Ian Christie is Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London.

Reviews

[Moshtagh hosein · Rating 4 out of 5]

خوانش جامع و کامل از دکتر ژیواگو
و من همچنان تا اصل کتاب را نخوانم فیلم را نخواهم دید

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and very readable. Enjoyed getting the backstory for a movie I dearly love.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entry in the British Film Institute's Classics series is, truth be told, somewhat underwhelming. Ian Christie's monograph offers sufficient material to satisfy the curiosity one might have for the famous David Lean directed epic, and one can't complain about the structure of this text nor how the author has summarised the narrative of 'Doctor Zhivago' nor its production history. And yet...there is something missing, something rather stock standard and dare one say unimpressive about this book.

The core problem with Doctor Zhivago as a book about the film is that there is insufficicent in-depth analysis of the cultural and cinematic aspects of the movie. Whereas some other BFI books that I have read about movies have leaned too heavily into the more conceptual, abstract or theoretical aspects of the movie being considered, here Ian Christie offers what might be considered the minimum of analysis. It's not that he ignores the subtext or other more academic implications of the movie; it's just that he spends far more time recounting the development, production, narrative and popular response to the movie. For readers who want that kind of (limited) account of the movie then that's fine. However, perhaps more could've been said regarding (for example) the place of 'Doctor Zhivago' in Hollywood's epic traditions, or the representation of Russian and Soviet identity for Anglo-American audiences at the height of the Cold War, or the sexual and cultural politics of the movie and its characters.

Having said that, there is still plenty of material within this book to help fulfil one's curiosity about the movie. Christie provides appropriate content as to the source material for the film, i.e. Pasternak's novel and his own life and career, plus helpful information as to the cast, production team, filming and post-production work related to 'Doctor Zhivago'. Christie focuses (as should be expected) on David Lean's directorial efforts in the film, and as a result one can find new or more meaningful avenues for appreciating the movie and the director.

Christie's analysis of 'Doctor Zhivago' is bound up in his recounting of the film's narrative, and for me this isn't quite as effective as it should be. It would've been more rewarding if less emphasis was placed on describing events, scenes and characters in the film in a chronological order, and instead took core scenes, characterisations and directorial elements and then went into more depth as needed. Frankly, most people who would read Doctor Zhivago are already familiar with the movie, so why spend so much time recounting what is in it?

Perhaps I am somewhat biased in my response to this book because the movie itself didn't really offer the emotional and intellectual pleasures I'd expected. It's not that hard to be less enthused about a book that is focused on a movie that doesn;t really float your boat. I suspect other readers may have a more positive view of Christie's work, especially if they are more enthusiastic about the movie. Be that as it may, this is still a worthy monograph, just not one that I can extol as a masterpiece of its type or subject.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entries in the “BFI Film Classics” series are only about 100 pages long, so their treatment of the making of the respective film, and its critical reception and legacy, is necessarily limited. Fortunately, this entry on David Lean’s 1965 epic doesn’t waste any of that precious space, as some volumes do, in flaunting inane academic theory or trying to cover also other films by the director. Lawrence of Arabia does, however, get some mention, because Lean reissued some of the personnel and filmmaking approaches from that film in his adaptation of Pasternak’s novel.

I was interested enough in Doctor Zhivago enough to pick up a book about it, but I don’t think that it is a particularly great film. So, this BFI Film Classics volume gave just the amount of information I wanted.