Marina Vlady Movies

Paolo Taviani and his brother Vittorio Taviani wrote and directed this made-for-TV adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's final novel. Wealthy and privileged Prince Dmitri Nekhludov (Timothy Peach) is called to serve on the jury of a woman accused of prostitution and murder. When the accused is brought forward, Nekhludov discovers to his surprise that the streetwalker is Katusha Maslova (Stefania Rocca), a peasant woman he led into a brief affair many years ago. Maslova has been charged with the poisoning of a local merchant, but she firmly declares her innocence. Nekhludov and his fellow members of the jury find in Maslova's favor, but the judge overturns their verdict on a technicality, and she is sentenced to life at hard labor. Agonized that his seduction of a once-innocent girl led her down a path of such grim consequences, Nekhludov sets out to change his life in a bid to somehow right the wrong he's done to Maslova. Risurrezione was originally screened in a three-hour version designed for television broadcast in Europe, though it was reported that a shorter cut was being prepared for theatrical exhibition. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Despite blending familiar elements from both of his cultures, Greek-Russian filmmaker Petros Sevastikoglou creates a totally original fable with this tale of a traveling magic show performing in a small Russian town. Local construction worker Nikita (Taras Koliadov) falls in love with one of the show's stars, the beautiful Alina (Anna Yanoskaya), but when a big storm comes through the town, the troupe pulls up its stakes and moves on. Time passes and Nikita takes a new job at a construction site, while Alina becomes disenchanted with her job and leaves the show. The construction site becomes the stage for Nikita's battle for Alina with the disintegrating troupe's director, the famous Mesmer (Zinoviev Gert). Marina Vlady co-stars with Sergei Desnitsky. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Junya Sato directs this historical epic about an Japanese sailor shipwrecked in Russia. Set during the Edo period (1600-1868, an era of great international isolation when going abroad was an offense punishable by death), the film centers on ship captain Daikokuya Kodayu (Ken Ogata), who, while transporting a load of rice from Ise to Edo (pre-modern Tokyo), gets blown off course. Nine months later, he and his ragged crew land on Kamchatka Peninsula. There they brave Siberian winters, and Russia's labyrinthine bureaucracy. Along the way, Kodayu learns Russian and befriends a local scholar (Oleg Yankovskii), who accompanies him on his exhausting journey across the tundra to St. Petersburg where he meets Catherine the Great. Ten years later, when he returns to Japan, he is immediately jailed. Will the hero be put to death? ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Follow Me takes place just after the Russian suppression of Czechoslovakian freedom of expression in the spring of 1968. Pavel Landovsky plays a liberal philosophy professor who continues teaching forbidden classes in his apartment. When things get too hot for him in Prague, the professor decides to head for Western Europe. Alas, he is detained indefinitely at a German airport, where he takes a job as baggage handler in order to survive. While in these reduced circumstances, the professor befriends several other political exiles, whose individual stories are related for our benefit. Follow Me was the second directorial effort of Maria (Lieber Karl) Knilli, who co-wrote the perceptive screenplay with Vera Has. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The celebration of and homage to the language of cinema unites not only the three central characters of this film, but is the character of the film itself. This is the story of a man whose entire life has been shaped and supported by the movies. Jordan (Marcello Mastroianni) grew up at his father's movie theater, and after World War Two, he took over as the theater's manager. In those halcyon days, the theater was so popular that police had to be hired to keep the crowds waiting to get in from rioting. Now, however, the theater is losing money and is in danger of being torn down, or sold to a department store. Jordan has long since concluded that the townspeople have forgotten their affection for the movies, but in a Capra-esque vision, he imagines them gathering as a body to prevent him from selling the theater. One highlight of this successful film about films is the glimpses it offers of over a dozen great works of Italian cinema. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Roger (Fabrice Josso) is a 16-year-old who seeks to lose his virginity in this softcore erotic drama. His initial efforts are unsuccessful, but World War I breaks out and men are seen marching off to battle. Roger goes overboard when he is presented with several amorous opportunities. He soon impregnates the maid, his aunt, and his sister in quick succession. Roger desperately tries to marry off the women to other men to avoid a lurid scandal. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

An elderly trio tries to adjust to each other when they all move into an apartment in Rome. When Giovanni (Ricardo Cucciolla) inherits the unit, he invites the Russian immigrant Maria (Marina Vlady) and his shy friend from college Teo (Luigi Pistilli) to live with him. Maria tries to get Teo to marry her friend so she can receive Italian citizenship. The three do their best to live in harmony in this bittersweet drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this eerie, atmospheric tale, a young woman is on a train when she sees some people she thinks she knows from her childhood. On arriving home, her husband tells her that a certain countess has died. At that point, the film cuts to a scene of the countess singing in a mausoleum while the visual image of the graveyard's many tombstones passes before one's eyes. Back home, the husband -- also a "father-figure" -- is looking over his collection of wooden angels. Some time elapses, and he surreptitiously sees a thief come down through the chimney, steal some things, and then leave. To combat any recurrence, he builds an iron, escape-proof cage around the fireplace, and then goes away on a trip. When he comes back, he finds the thief dead in the cage. Thus far, the camera has only shown the husband in profile or from the back. Then there is another story about a young girl, with a spiteful, nasty mother, who is trying to cope with her own attraction to a man. When she grows up, she either commits suicide or manages to leave the past behind her. Is this little girl the same married woman on the train at the beginning of the film? In the final, dramatic scenes, the viewers see the husband full-face for the first time, as he confronts his wife. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Argante (Alberto Sordi) is an eccentric recluse who suffers from a malady of real and imagined gastrointestinal difficulties in this tasteless, low-brow comedy. While his doctor (Bernard Blier) tries various cures, Argante exposes his unfaithful wife (Marina Vlady) and makes peace with his estranged daughter (Giuliana De Sio). The viewer is subjected to endless scenes of enemas as the film caters to the lowest levels of bathroom humor. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV fantasy is a tale from the well-known Arabian Nights fable featuring a flying carpet, a prince, a pretty maiden, and a genie. Roddy McDowall, Ian Holm and Peter Ustinov appear in this Middle Eastern adventure. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Mari (Marina Vlady) runs a boardinghouse for girls who are in trouble, and Juli (Lili Monori) is a young married woman who is fleeing her passionate marriage with an uncontrollable alcoholic. She has brought her young daughter along with her. Though this is not allowed under the house rules, Mari makes an exception for Juli. Both women are desperately unfulfilled - Mari has a narrow-minded and passionless man for a husband, and Juli still loves her husband, whom she recognizes as a person she cannot continue living with. The two turn to each other for comfort, and each woman gains necessary insights into her own life in seeing the other's struggles. This sober movie by feminist director Marta Meszaros was not a rousing box-office success. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The humanistic actions of Philippe D'Orleans, the cultured gentle regent to young Louis the XV in pre-revolutionary France (1719) are chronicled in this French costumer. Though the regent endeavors to keep his subjects cultured and happy to stop the peasants from rising up, he knows he has no real royal authority. To assist, D'Orleans enlisted the aid of a priest, who unfortunately cared nothing for his God, nor anyone but himself. The regent becomes distraught after his daughter, with whom he has been accused of committing incest, dies. His natural idealism is also shaken when he must execute a band of revolutionaries. True joy will only be found when the peasants successfully overthrow the aristocrats who held them down so long. The film's soundtrack features the music of the real Phillippe D'Orleans. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide