The life of a famous actress, Arina Arkanad, who goes in a journey to the country, in order to visit her old and ill brother, has been changed, as she accompanies her lover, Trigorin, a famous novelist and her son, but upon their arroval, their lives turn down because of love, as her son falls in love with Nina, a beautiful girl, who falls in love with Trigorin.
Mayer brings a labored hand to the proceedings and can't maximize his dynamite cast or the potential for salaciousness in Chekov's tangled web of characters.
We are left with the sense of a story that has been co-opted into the same accessible, middlebrow terrain that Chekhov was originally reacting against.
Annette Bening in full flow is always worth one's attention, and a distinguished supporting cast for the most part matches her a large part of the way.
It feels like at times it's attempting to condense the drama...this leads more to the soap-ish end of the spectrum. There's an elliptical quality to the storytelling that I'm not quite sure works this time around.
