Fantastic!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I did not enjoy this film, I enjoyed the story, but this particular telling of the story was not enjoyable for me. The story itself is based off of and named after the play The Cherry Orchard written by Anton Chekhov. The story is centered on a Russian noble family trying to hold onto an estate. Actually they don't actually try to hold onto the estate they just party and worry about losing the estate until they do. My reasons for not enjoying this film are not because the lack of action, I in fact enjoyed the narrative, but the way it was portrayed in the film was very unengaging. Which is odd since you would think that a film being shot around the idea of being both a theatrical play and a movie would be more stimulating, and perhaps it could be, but this film did not achieve this. In its attempt to be a theatrical play and a movie it loses elements of both. The audience performer dynamic for example you lose that sense of the audience watching you as you act is gone as well as the feeling of seeing the actors sweat while they do it all in one take. A film can't do this and it's not expected to. A theatrical play also has to rely on the fact that you can't fix things in post-production. However I do not dislike the film because of these elements.I dislike the film because of the terrible pacing, and the wooden acting, among other things. The first act of the film does not set up the characters or really even tell you who they are or what their names are. Although I wouldn't be surprised if they do in fact mention all the names and who they are in relation to each other, but with all the chaos, and the muttering, I'm not sure how I could figure it out without a guidebook. And while a film does not have to tell me all of the characters names, plays usually do, at least the ones I have gone to give you a little pamphlet telling you about who the actors are and who they play. The middle section of this film feels slow and painful so there is little build up for the delivery at the final parts of the film. This might be somewhat due to the narrative of the film but the acting exacerbates these negative elements and doesn't really let the stories good points shine through. Because of the mindset this film was directed in the actors act and talk spontaneously throughout the film, but apparently the attempt to give it feeling and impact was forgotten which makes the sudden spontaneous over acting feel wooden slow and really takes me out of the film. Most, if not all, of this film's good points are towards the end and it was absolutely not worth the wait (although the films ending need some serious work as the effectiveness it had was lost). If this review is very disjointed take that sense and try to multiply it by 11 that should be about how the acting feels like. The real cruel irony of this film is that it tries to be a film and a theatrical play and fails at being both. I do not recommend this film but I do recommend going out and seeing it done in a theatrical play.

I have to say I hated this movie. I don't like to say that because Gerard Butler is in it. About a half an hour of boring conversation, sorry to all who actually care about the plot, I started fast-forwarding to Gerry's scenes. I really don't know the ending, I was that bored with it. If Gerry wasn't in it, I probably either done one of two things: fell asleep or turned it off, but Gerry is the bright light of this movie, as he is with most of his earlier movies. If you're a fan of Gerry's don't worry, he's as adorable and precious as he always is, but if you actually want to watch the movie for the plot, good luck because you'll need it, either that or lots of coffee or soda to keep you awake! 4/10...and that's just because the casting director had the sense to put Gerry in this movie, even though they had no idea of how to spell his name!

The Cherry Orchard is an ensemble piece about a country estate with a famous cherry orchard that is the pride of the province.It is 1900 in Russia and amid the turmoil of social and political revolution, the family and servants at this little corner of the world are caught in a time warp. It is still Imperial Russia with all the privileges for the wealthy and landed gentry. Time goes by, life goes by, wealth disappears, but these people can't be bothered to notice.Charlotte Rampling ("The Statement" 2003) is Madame Ranevskaya who returns, with her daughter, from exile in Paris to her estate to be with her lazy brother (Alan Bates, "Gosford Park"), her adopted daughter, and various servants, friends and freed peasants. Like the large old house, their way of life is rotting away. They are broke and the only thing that will save them from poverty is to sell the land, house and orchard to developers. But the are so besotted with the old life they cannot arouse themselves to make a decision on what to do. And of course, they lose it all.The commentary throughout in the form of asides, laughter and outright contempt, is in the character of the servant Yasha (Gerard Butler, "Dear Frankie"). He serves Madam R, but he gossips about her profligate ways, has contempt for many in the family and takes advantage of the privileges they provide him, including a romp in the orchard with one of the housemaids (Melanie Lynskey,"Shooters"), who he then lectures on her immoral ways. It is a small part, but acts like a Greek chorus to comment on the others.In the end, the doddering valet of Bates is left alone, locked into this decaying house, two old relics forgotten by the aristocrats and the new bourgeoisie. He says to himself "my life has gone by as though I have never lived. No strings - nothing." He leans back in the chair and dies. These people are so careless that no one makes sure the old man has really been taken to a hospital, although they all talk about it, and Yasha keeps assuring everyone he 'knows' he was picked up. So they all just ride off in their carriages and the woodsmen move into the orchard and begin chopping down the cherry trees.The beauty of the cinematography, costumes and piano score of Tchaikovsky music set a mood that is languid and only for those who relish the type of multi-character stories like the recent "Gosford Park." I loved it. 9/10

Chekhov's plays have generally resisted film and TV adaptations: Sidney Lumet's "Sea Gull" was lumpy and not well cast, and even the Russian film adaptations have been turgid affairs.Michael Cacoyannis' version of "The Cherry Orchard" (originally titled "Varya" after one of the main characters), is better than Lumet's film largely because it's better acted in general. But the direction is sometimes fussy, sometimes leaden - the pacing becomes more and more turgid as the film progresses. The final 40 minutes or so become very tedious. Plus there's an unnecessary prologue in Paris - an obvious attempt to open up the play, but it goes on much too long.Charlotte Rampling does very well as Madame Ranyevskaya, a near-penniless aristocrat who returns to her family estate as it is about to be auctioned after a default on the mortgage. Rampling clearly shows us a aging woman who is spoiled, charming, childish, delusional, sometimes haughty and condescending, and feckless - a person who never learned how to manage money because she never felt she had to. Her performance makes this woman less conventionally sympathetic than others in the role - which is fine. There are times when her performance is undercut by some jarring editing where her mood swings from one extreme to another.The rest of the cast is quite fine: Alan Bates as Ranyevskaya's equally feckless and lazy brother Gayev shows us the man who knows full well his coming fate, yet goes through fits of denial to coddle his sister and the others; Michael Gough as the increasingly senile family servant Fiers; Tushka Bergen as Ranyevskaya's daughter Anya.The best acting comes from Katrin Cartlidge as the hapless, lovesick, foster daughter Varya, a soul sister to Sonia of Uncle Vanya; and Owen Teale (who was superb with Janet McTeer onstage in "A Doll's House") as Lopahin, a former peasant whose family worked on Ranyevskaya's farm but who has now become a successful businessman. His efforts to convince the fading aristocrats to save themselves by selling the estate fall on deaf ears, so he decides on a different plan of action.I would recommend seeing this only to people who are familiar with the play. First-timers would be better off seeking out a good stage production (lots of luck there) as Chekhov has always worked better there.