Zoya

I admit that I usually despise Danielle Steele miniseries, but this is one that I feel amazingly tolerant towards.

Believable? No. Historically accurate? Not even close. Still, it's a fairly innocuous way to pass an afternoon should you chance upon in on Lifetime (where it used to appear with some frequency).

I will happily admit that I started watching it because Bruce Boxleitner was my first television crush (this was way back in his Scarecrow and Mrs. King days), but once I got into the story, I realized that it was like an entire soap opera compressed into four hours. If you are wanting to watch something and admire the acting and the riveting dialogue, look elsewhere. If you want a few hours of mindless but still entertaining popcorn fun, this might be for you.

PS--It's interesting to note that the daughter in the movie is played by a very pre-Alias Jennifer Garner.

I have always liked Melissa Gilbert and have watched every movie she is in, whenever possible. I especially liked this movie as Melissa was starring with her husband Bruce Boxleitner. This is a feel good movie of triumph over adversity. Melissa is great with her accent as a Russian Countess and actually losing her accent as the years roll by. If you want to curl up to a chick flick with no violence or swearing, then this is the movie for you. Sometimes us women don't want death and blood and gore in a movie, we just want a simple love story about a woman who is strong enough to live in a man's world. I loved this movie and hope that Melissa makes more of this calibre. Thank you Melissa Gilbert for your hard work.

If you like Danielle Steele, you'll like this.

Hmmm.

No, that's not enough. How about, if you have a high tolerance for predictable nonsense then you might enjoy this?

Personally I only watched it because of Bruce Boxleitner, star of "Babylon 5". As you will no doubt realize if you have seen this, that is not really a valid reason for staying for the duration!

Ah well, it's (very) soapy but it's a fair enough way to waste a couple of hours.

This is a beautiful love story....but it is also an excellent example of patience, perseverance and never giving up on those you love. It also gives the viewer an insight of how life can make many twists and turns and one must look deep inside themselves to go on and do what is necessary to deal with whatever life throws at you.

It is a story that can inspire young people (especially women) to not be defeated by the curves life throws at them. It also shows how real love can endure through most anything...even death.

This movie moves me to laughter and tears throughout the presentation. It makes me want to pattern my life and ideals after the main characters (Zoya and her husband).

Well, it is. A very romanticized version of life of aristocrats in exile. The funniest moment was when Zoya revealed that she brought the Faberge egg with her into Communist Russia. It would have been confiscated on the border as a national treasure, she wouldn't even have been compensated.

Zoya herself has too many late-20th century values for my tastes. Like her wanting to be a dancer, when most dancers of her culture and era were, in fact, courtesans. Her marrying a jewish man, while tsarist russia was very antisemitic. Well, it's a cute fairy tale anyway.