The Lady With the Dog

Based on the Chekhov short story of the same name, the Lady with the Dog (Dama's sobachkoy) is a forgotten masterpiece from a tense period during the Khrushchev thaw. Told with little dialogue and minimal action, this romantic drama is a bittersweet portrait of a doomed love affair between Dmitri, a bank official, and Anna, a well-to-do young woman. The two fall in love while on vacation in Yalta around the turn of the century, but because each is already married, they can only see one another once a year. Director Iosif Heifitz not only adapts the events of the Chekhov story but captures the legendary writer's restrained tone and atmosphere of desperation. Nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. In Russian with English subtitles.