I do criticise the choice of actress for Lara's character. When she was involved with Komarovsky, she was still a young girl, seventeen! But in the movie she appeared the same age throughout, which slighted her affair. I suppose it would have been rather controversial to see a teenager involved with a forty-something man on a movie screen back then. Also, the plot was changed as to the fate of Pasha, who became Strelnikov. Instead of meeting Yura in Varykino, they played it like he shot himself in a totally different place. So the conversation which Pasternak writes about is totally deleted from the movie. Most likely it was done for for the sake of time. I thought that was one of the better converstaions in the book, and regretted the change.
Collectively, the movie is a good find. It brings a vividness to the book which helped me quite a bit, as good movie versions have a talent for.
The film of Pasternak's book is an excellent flick. I watched it and. despite the fact that it was created 30 years ago, it was better than I ever thought it would be. Today, the movie industry could do an incredible job of it, and I would like to see someone produce it. Even so, the film quality, the acting (Omar Sharif is a FABULOUS Yurii!) and the effort to remain true to the plot, while still bringing it alive, was well done.
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