Review: After not watching a movie for some time, I certainly picked the wrong movie to watch. Once I saw that Ralph Fiennes was in this film, I thought that it would be half decent but it was full of annoying subtitles which took away the emotion from this period drama. Its based around a woman, Natalia (Anna Vartanyan), who has fallen for her hired help Alexei (Nikita Volkov), even though she is married to a wealthy land owner. Alexei is also loved by Natalia's adopted daughter Veras (Anna Levanova), so Mikhail (Ralph Fiennes) steps in to try and sort out the troubling love triangle. Mikhail also has feelings for Natalia but he knows that nothing can happen because of his loyalty to her husband. With Natalia and Veras fighting for Alexei's emotions, it's soon made obvious that there is something strange happening in the household, which leads to Alexei having to make a life changing decision. I honestly found the movie quite boring because it takes a long time for anything to happen. All of the actors didn't do anything amazing, and I couldn't really see the point of Ralph Fiennes character, who just seemed to be hanging around most of the time. As I'm not a big fan of period dramas, this movie really didn't do anything for me and I can totally understand why it slipped under the radar. Boring!
Round-Up: This movie was directed by Vera Glagoleva, who has mainly made movies for a Russian market. She sadly died on the 16th of August 2017, at 61 years old. Although I wasn't a fan of this movie, it certainly looked authentic, and I was impressed with Ralph Fiennes accent, which was spot on throughout. At 54 years old, he really didn't look his age and with a many hits to his name, which include Spectre, the Grand Budapest Hotel, Skyfall, the Harry Potter franchise etc, he is one of those actors which don't get the recognition that he deserves. I doubt that this movie will boost his reputation but it certainly proves that he is a versatile actor, who is willing to take on projects out of his comfort zone.
Budget: 2,860,000 Worldwide Gross: N/A
This movie is in the genre of drama, starring Ralph Fiennes, Sylvie Testud, Aleksandr Baluev, Larisa Malevannaya and Anna Vartanyan. 2/10
