"Brotherhood and fiddlesticks"

Rating: 6/10 (30 June 2010)

When a creative team has a run of hits it is sensible for them to stick to a winning formula. Savvy as ever director David Lean and writer Robert Bolt, fresh from their success with Lawrence of Arabia, selected another story of individual experience against the backdrop of major world events. Or, if you prefer, major world events seen through the eyes of individuals. But with Doctor Zhivago they also committed one of the greatest sins of the successful – an over-confidence in their own abilities.
Boris Pasternak's story is certainly one with an impressive scope, and a refreshingly intelligent take on the Russian revolution. Rather than coming down firmly on one side or the other, it makes quite clear that while life under the Bolsheviks was no picnic, the Tsarist regime that came before it was little better and needed doing away with. It seems likely that this mitigated, thought-provoking world-view was part of the attraction for those responsible for this adaptation. But Doctor Zhivago is drastically different to Lawrence of Arabia in that it is primarily a romance. Lean of course had done romance before, but Bolt hadn't, and this is where the success story begins to unravel. Bolt fails to create any chemistry between Lara and the title character – their affair simply happens, as if we were reading an entry in a history book. In particular the human story suffers because Lara is a passive, almost mute character. This may be partly the fault of Pasternak, but I am laying the blame with Bolt due to his record, which shows him to be unwilling – perhaps unable – to create strong female characters. In any case, the problem remains regardless of who is responsible.
Fortunately the cast is a decent one who ought to be able to breathe flesh onto even the boniest of characters. Omar Sharif is good in the title role, bringing out the right note of humane sympathy, and certainly doing a creditable job of Zhivago's physical suffering in the latter half of the picture. Julie Christie is not bad but she is wrong for the part. She was – indeed is – a fine actress, but she was so resolutely a post-war middle-class English lass that if you took her away from that setting she looked out of place, and also why she is so naturally perfect in Darling, made the same year. Geraldine Chaplin, Ralph Richardson and Alec Guinness all give solid and commendable performances, but by no means outstanding ones. Tom Courtney is a little stereotyped, but beneath the mask of austerity he does allow a few of Pasha's true emotions to stir beneath the surface. Rod Steiger gives one of his most natural performances, and yet is simultaneously at his most unnerving and unpredictable. Finally an honourable mention goes to an effortlessly volatile and engrossing turn from Klaus Kinski.
So, a somewhat mixed bag so far, but at least the regular David Lean technical crew are still on board from the last picture. The Freddie Young cinematography gives us some glorious landscapes, and the gorgeous Maurice Jarre score is as ever in tune with Lean's imagery, shifting and flowing with each visual nuance. Yes, this is an abundantly professional production. It seems however the decisive blow to Doctor Zhivago's overall effectiveness is dealt by Lean himself. Perhaps it was notions of artistry going to his head, and perhaps he had been too long away from the intimate drama, but he seems to be caught up in image and symbolism. The strict colour scheme of black, white and red, with yellow representing Lara, is so meticulous and invariable it looks forced. Then there are little touches like the sparking of the tram cable during Sharif and Christie's first meeting, ironic in itself since there is no "spark" between them on screen. Few will notice these touches to be either impressed or distracted by them, but they do show how Lean's focus has shifted from the genuine to the metaphorical. He really seems to believe that a few pretty pictures of flowers can take the place of an actual demonstration of feelings between characters.
Of course, Doctor Zhivago is not a total disaster – the box office figures alone confirm that, and there is much here to enthral and entertain. But it does have some major flaws, and these are the flaws of the main creative minds behind the picture – David Lean and Robert Bolt. The same problems would recur, only far more drastically, in the critical and commercial mess that is Ryan's Daughter, and Doctor Zhivago represents for them the beginning of the end.