Masterpiece Theatre | Doctor Zhivago

Essays + Interviews [imagemap with 7 links]

The Making of Doctor Zhivago
Interpreting a classic for today

"...There were times when we had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to work in the pitch dark, freezing cold or pouring rain with costumes which weighed about 90kg each having been soaked with mud and rain from the previous day's battle scenes. But because of the heart-attack inducing amounts of coffee we drank, we got to the end of each day feeling quite pleased with ourselves! One of the most curious aspects of our job is that we spent weeks producing beautiful costumes which we then had to spend further weeks "distressing" so that they looked aged and lived in..."

Russian Love Stories
What is it about Russians and love?

"...The captivating (Akhmadulina) writes about unrequited love, purity and solitude. Her poetic voice is as cold and clear as a brook bubbling in the snowy wilderness. For many years she was as popular as a pop star and her stadium recitals often reduced audiences to tears. Wrapped in black furs, with Tartar blood running in her veins, Akhmadulina's verse pierced the heart like a dagger. Today she is no longer so popular, as new times have brought with them songs, and her refined work is lost on many people. The denim generation has no use for brocade..."

Boris Pasternak
Novelist, poet, philosopher, playwright

Pasternak was one of the rare poets to be popular during his lifetime. If he forgot a line in one of his poems during a reading, the crowd would assist him. During the war, letters he received from the front line reminded him of the reach that his voice had. He did not want to lose this contact with the masses so Pasternak began a large novel that glorified freedom, independence, and a return to Christian religion that would become Dr. Zhivago. Basing the story on his own experience of wartime and revolution, Pasternak employed Yuri Zhivago as mouthpiece for his own philosophical and artistic beliefs.