{"id":148,"date":"2025-08-01T03:51:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=148"},"modified":"2026-08-14T09:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T13:54:20","slug":"doctor-zhivago-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=148","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Zhivago-1965"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doctor Zhivago-1965<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director David Lean<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top 250 Films #31<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #42<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"449931\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed June 18, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doctor Zhivago (1965) is a great film to watch on a cold night or throughout the crisp winter or holiday season.<\/p>\n

The film is a classic masterpiece directed by the talented David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, 1962; A Passage to India, 1986), whose perfectionism shines through in his epic films.<\/p>\n

Nearly every scene could be a painting, so the cinematography alone is reason enough to become enchanted with art.<\/p>\n

Of course, the story is also a goldmine as a sprawling decades-long love story unfolds amid the ravages of the bloody Bolshevik Revolution.<\/p>\n

The film is set in the bitter cold of Russia (though all scenes were shot in Spain), and the harsh climate and war combine with a doomed love story set against the backdrop of numerous battles and wartime conditions.<\/p>\n

Nearly all sequences are set in winter, and the blustery, icy effects contrast with numerous scenes of cozy, candlelit cabins or more extravagant, glowing surroundings.<\/p>\n

For the best viewing experience, viewers should be surrounded by fire, flaming candles, or another form of warmth while a snowstorm or blizzard rages outside for a perfect viewing experience.<\/p>\n

A large-screen television or a cinema is simply a must to watch this film, as it is epic on the grandest scale.<\/p>\n

Omar Sharif and Julie Christie (a gorgeous star in her day) are perfectly cast as Uri and Lara, young forbidden lovers enthralled with one another but involved with others.<\/p>\n

The film dissects their first meeting and their story over the years, through marriages, births, and deaths amid the ravages of early-twentieth-century Russia.<\/p>\n

Despite their affairs, neither is deemed unsympathetic\u2014quite the contrary.<\/p>\n

Audiences will fall in love with the pair and become enchanted as they watch their love-tortured adventures unfold.<\/p>\n

Sharif and Christie are just magnificent and utterly believable as a couple.<\/p>\n

The set pieces are magnificent and flawless in design and detail (my favorite is the Ice Palace).<\/p>\n

The cinematography is breathtaking, and the content is remarkably close to the superior novel by Boris Pasternak, evoking a sense of “really being there” in the viewer.<\/p>\n

Doctor Zhivago (1965) is a brilliant film, perfect for a snowy winter evening.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations<\/strong>: 5 wins<\/strong>-Best Picture, Best Director-David Lean, Best Supporting Actor-Tom Courtenay, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (won)<\/strong>, Best Music Score-Substantially Original (won)<\/strong>, Best Art Direction, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Cinematography, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Costume Design, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Film Editing<\/p>\n

Golden Globe Nominations: 5 wins-<\/strong>Best Motion Picture-Drama (won),\u00a0<\/strong>Best Director-Motion Picture-David Lean (won), <\/strong>Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama-Omar Sharif (won),\u00a0<\/strong>Best Screenplay-Motion Picture (won),\u00a0<\/strong>Best Original Score-Motion Picture (won),\u00a0<\/strong>New Star of the Year-Actress-Geraldine Chaplin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doctor Zhivago-1965 Director David Lean Starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie Top 250 Films #31 Scott’s Review #42 Reviewed June 18, 2014 Grade: A Doctor Zhivago (1965) is a great film to watch on a cold night or throughout the crisp winter or holiday season. The film is a classic masterpiece directed by the talented David … Continue reading Doctor Zhivago-1965<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,12015,192,194,286,222,7530,7464,7465],"tags":[8087,8963,535,536,11302,1116,9136,9445,762,5989,701,8885,12444,623,8884,2472],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1965-films","category-best-picture-drama-golden-globe-winners","category-dramas","category-epics","category-historical-dramas","category-romantic-dramas","category-top-100-films","category-top-250-films","category-top-50-films","tag-31-favorite-film","tag-adrienne-corri","tag-alec-guiness","tag-david-lean","tag-geoffrey-keen","tag-geraldine-chaplin","tag-ingrid-pitt","tag-jack-macgowran","tag-julie-christie","tag-noel-willman","tag-omar-sharif","tag-ralph-richardson","tag-rita-tushingham","tag-rod-steiger","tag-siobhan-mckenna","tag-tom-courtenay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24118,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/24118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}