Doctor Zhivago

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Director David Lean explored culture classes in his films, even if they were within one country. In Doctor Zhivago, a long and sad story, he adapts the Boris Pasternak novel that depicts life under the czars that led to the rule of the Communist Party which followed the revolution in Russia. The story distills these sweeping events by focusing on the lives of individuals, with a love story at its center.

The tale begins after the revolution and is told in flashback. The establishing shot shows a mass of women marching through a tunnel at the site of a dam under the supervision of one individual. That image sums up Russian rule under Communism, where only those at the top of the hierarchy have individuality and the rest of the population is lumped together as one organism.

The man observing is Yevgraf Zhivago (Alec Guinness), a general, the half-brother of Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif). He tells the Engineer (Mark Eden) that life was intolerable in the past where some resorted to cannibalism to survive. (Notice that the Engineer at this point has no name, only his profession; the job he does for society as a whole is what is important here). Yevgraf is interested in a young woman, Tonya Komarovsky (Rita Tushingham) who may be Yuri’s daughter. The mother would be Lara (Julie Christie), who was Yuri’s inspiration for a book of poems, which the government only recently allowed the populace to read once the Communists gained enough power to allow anything that wasn’t dominated by the Party line.

Tonya is not very informative about her early life, not remembering her father and losing her mother while young. This story is about history and Tonya’s gap of information allows for the retelling of the past by Yevgraf. The shots of Ural Mountains and the expanse of the territory (the film was actually shot in Spain) show the dwarfing of individuals as young Yuri (Tarik Sharif) attends the funeral of his mother. It is a harsh introduction to the finality of the death of an individual in contrast to the enduring sky above.

The Gromykos, affluent family friends who live near Moscow, adopt young Yuri. Alexander Gromykos (Ralph Richardson) gives Yuri the balalaika which the young boy’s mother played so well. Mother Anna (Siobhan McKenna) says Yuri’s mother had a “gift” for playing it. It is this artistic side, like older Yuri’s ability to create poetry, in contrast to medicine and politics, which seems to be inherited. The daughter of the Gromykos. also Tonya, is eight years old, the same age as Yuri. We hear Lara’s theme played on the balalaika as Yuri stares at the instrument which suggests the young boy’s destiny. The harshness of the windy coldness that blows off his mother’s grave markings suggests the wiping away of what would have been Yuri’s life if circumstances were different.

The adult Yuri’s medical mentor urges him to do research, but Yuri wants to go into general practice to experience life. The elder doctor says Yuri will “find that pretty creatures do ugly things to people.” The statement is a foreshadowing. Yuri rides the same streetcar as Lara, but doesn’t see her face since she is bundled up against the cold. But they look out the window at the same time and their traveling in the same direction is more foreshadowing. The shot of her getting off the vehicle is a bookend to the end of the film.

Lara sees Pasha (Tom Courtney), her fiancé, a revolutionary of the Communist movement, handing out leaflets. Lara rescues him from the authorities pretending to be his sister and that she will handle him. Pasha says he is not like the Bolsheviks because they do not know right from wrong, but he does. His self-righteousness is evident, and Lara teases him about him being a “prig.” Her remark also points to her rejection of conformity of behavior. Yet, she has been drawn to him, possibly to balance out her rule-breaking nature.

Victor Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), whose last name tells us of a connection to Tonya, is the opposite of Pasha. He does not worry about ethical behavior as he is the lover of Lara’s mother, a dressmaker, and lusts after the daughter, who is only seventeen (despite Christie looking older). Lara is a passionate woman, and Pasha puts all his drives into the impending revolution.

When Lara’s mother is ill, Victor takes Lara to an upscale restaurant. He says she is his niece to defer any criticism about such a young woman being with an older man. The opulent venue contrasts with the Communist protesters outside who have signs that state the need for freedom and food. As Lara and Victor dine the protesters’ singing interrupts the diners. But Victor’s witty condescending remark about how the disrupters will probably sing in tune after the revolution restores the security of the upper-class clientele. Interestingly, Victor pours some of his alcoholic drink into Lara’s glass. Maybe a symbolic sexual exchange of fluids that suggests the corruption of a young woman?

The next scenes show Victor taking advantage of Lara’s sexual awakening in the sleigh ride as soldiers “mount” their horses to attack the protesters. The images indicate a sort of rape of the lower classes by the privileged. Yuri has been adopted into the upper-class world and he observes the horrifying attack of the soldiers fittingly from a balcony above. The camera moves to the level of the protesters to put the audience in the middle of the chaos. However, there are cuts to Yuri who becomes rattled by what he sees. There are bodies and injured people left in the street and Yuri enters the street to use his medical skills. He is not allowed to help the victims as the authorities just load the people into carts to be hauled away to what is surely a horrible fate. There is blood on the virgin snow, symbolic of the attack on the purity of ideals which is echoed by Lara’s succumbing to the aptly named Victor’s exploiting of Lara’s innocence.

Next, the adult Tonya (Geraldine Chapman) arrives from France saying how well Yuri’s poetry is received in France. It is a happy meeting, compared to the following scene where Pasha shows up at the dress shop with a facial wound he received in the demonstration, the residuals of his battle with the forces in power. Sasha has a gun he wants Lara to keep, and as the Russian Chekhov said, once you show a gun, the writer must fire it at some point. Lara is appalled by this turn of events. Pasha shows how violence will escalate now as he says there will be no more peaceful protests. She feels guilty because she was dining while the violence occurred outside. She also carries guilt for her sexual activity and confesses to the priest. But she continues to see Victor and wears a sexy dress he bought for her. He forces alcohol on her and despite her protests of his crude ways, she doesn’t stop seeing him. She is a young woman torn between her passionate drives and social restrictions on behavior.

Yuri assists with an emergency house call and that is how he becomes involved in Lara’s life. Victor found Lara’s mother after she made a suicide attempt. Victor told the naïve Lara that her mother probably knew of Lara’s affair with Victor. Victor doesn’t want the scandal to come out because he has connections with everyone, no matter what the political party. He is an amoral survivor who uses advantages for himself wherever he can find them.

The doctors pump the mother’s stomach and save her. Yuri goes to tell Lara about her mother’s condition. As he looks for her, we hear Lara’s theme again, letting us know about the connection that will join them. But Yuri witnesses Lara kissing Victor in gratefulness for getting her mother help. Yuri finds out that Victor took care of his birth father’s will and tried to devalue the estate and garner more for himself. Yuri is immediately disgusted by Victor after what he has seen and knows.

There is a meeting between Pasha, Lara, and Victor, who says he wants to ensure that Lara will be well cared for. Pasha, whose mother and father died miserably, says he cares for the revolution even more than Lara. He admits he has little experience in the ways of love, and only kisses Lara on the forehead. The implication is he does not know how to satisfy her sexually. Victor sees that he is a “young crusader” who will only give Lara a meager life.

Back at the dress shop, he tells Lara that Pasha is a “high-minded” man who people say they admire but really despise, most likely because of his holier-than-thou stance. Victor sees Lara as an “alive” woman but also calls her a “slut,” and precedes to take her by force, but she appears amenable once the sexual overture occurs. He says not to delude herself that it was “rape.” As a viewer we dislike Victor, because he has abandoned principles so he can survive and take what he wants at any cost to others. Lara has been used, but she has also allowed herself to be used. Perhaps her life has not led her to find a man who is both passionate and principled. And that is where Yuri comes in.

There is a Christmas party where Yuri’s engagement to Tonya is announced. The scene is one of opulence again and the time of year is supposed to be a joyous one. However, Lara has the gun that Pasha gave her and she shoots Victor in the arm at the party, using her anti-establishment fiancé’s weapon to pierce the rich comfort of the wealthy. In a way, she becomes a sort of comrade in arms in the revolution. She encountered Pasha before the act, and he now parts the crowd escorting her out. Victor wants no police involvement to keep his scandal unofficial, but Yuri, who saw them together at the dress shop, knows of his acts. While Yuri treats Victor’s wound, the latter says Yuri’s father was a good man who was devoted to his mother, and he admits that the revolutionaries may win. Here Victor seems compassionate and open-minded. But then he wants to ensure Yuri will keep Victor’s relationships with Lara and her mother secret, his selfish ways again appearing. When Yuri asks what happens to Lara when Victor is finished with her, the crude and cynical part of Victor says he gives Lara to Yuri as a wedding gift.

We again have contrasting edits as Yuri and Tonya share a loving sleigh ride, hugging and kissing, even though Yuri has his mind on Lara. Pasha reads a letter from Lara in which she confesses her indiscretions. He at first wants to strike Lara, but then reconsiders and then embraces her.

Yevgraf’s narrative voice returns, and we see him look younger as he talks about how his mission was to use the conflict to undermine the peasants sent to fight for a cause that was not in their interests. The “lucky” one lost parts of their bodies while many died. He said those that volunteered to fight may not have been happy in their marriages, and the shot tellingly zeroes in on Pasha who enlists while leaving Lara and their child in the Urals, while Yuri also departs, serving as a doctor. Pasha is a leader and men follow him, but he leads them to death, his “high-minded” ways not allowing for Victor’s realism.

Four years later Yevgraf’s narration says that soldiers who fought gave up, went home, and that was the beginning of the “revolution.” There is a confrontation between the deserters and the reinforcements which shows the inception of what Yevgraf worked for. Lara is there as a nurse volunteer looking for Pasha and encounters Yuri, helping him tend to the wounded. He shows he is on her side when he says Victor was “a good man to shoot at.”

They are with the soldiers when they find out that the czar is in prison and Lenin is in Moscow as civil war occurred. One of the soldiers says that there will be no more czars, that there will be a worker’s country with “no more masters,” and there will be “only workers in a workers’ state.” Sounds good, but as we know, idealism can come crashing down when it confronts the reality of the human condition.

Tonya receives a letter from Yuri and she seems upset that he mentions how good Lara is at helping men heal (could he be talking about his own need for emotional nourishment?). As one of the men there says, going home, which should be joyful, will lead them to the civil fighting. Lara irons clothes (a scene that will affect Yuri later) and says she is happy there even if she is away from her child, but away from conflicts. Yuri is shot in darkness as they talk as he admits he would be jealous of losing her. She reminds him that, so far, they have done nothing that would hurt his marriage, and she doesn’t wish to. Lean is showing us a story that is full of conflicting emotions.

The soldiers leave as does Lara. When Yuri returns to Moscow, the large house he lived in now has resident managers who are humorless and hostile toward Yuri, not because of who he is, but because he was part of the upper class. The Christian hospital is now called a “reformed” institution, meant to obliterate any religious associations that would compromise devotion to the revolution. Yuri says that he understands that there is an outbreak of typhus, but the Communist leader there says it is a false rumor, or in our terms “fake news,” which shows the Red Guard desire to get rid of any negativity involving their rule.

When Yuri sees his boy, Sasha (Jeffrey Rockland), the boy slaps him. Is it because he has been away for so long? Or is it due to Communist indoctrination to despise the upper class? Alexander joins them in the one room now allocated to the family. There is little food, and Alexander wonders how they will survive the winter. There is more to help unfortunate people. But it is the unelected Communist Party that decides who gets what. Yuri notes that those in charge have the “power” but not the “right” to order people about, stressing the unfairness of the situation. He finds one man suffering from starvation, which the Party does not want to acknowledge. Yuri’s attitude of defiance is “noted” by a government official, which is a threat to anyone who wants the truth to surface.

Tonya is in tears because they don’t have enough fuel to keep the stove burning. Yuri goes out and rips wood off a fence and Yevgraf sees his brother for the first time in an act of vandalism. He says, “Nothing ordered by the Party is beneath any man.” His statement shows how those in power have the right to tell others to perpetrate any act, no matter how small or heinous. However, Yevgraf does not apprehend Yuri, perhaps because he is his half-brother. Although he admits that if “you get hold of a man’s brother you’re halfway home.” His words play on his relationship to Yuri, but reveals the total abdication of any personal will to the party in power. He says he admires his brother for his selflessness, but shows his ruthlessness when he adds, “I’ve executed better men than me with a small pistol.” The “small” adjective shows that admirable people can be easily eliminated if they try to defy the Communist Party’s rule.

The local party head carried out his threat and ordered the reduction of living space in Yuri’s apartment and people start taking many of the family’s items. Yevgraf enters and with just a snap of his fingers all the intruders leave without a word, such is the power of those in the upper hierarchy. He revealed that he is Yuri’s brother. Yuri, the caring person that he is, kisses and embraces his brother. Yuri uses his medical background to state a metaphor when he tells Yevgraf that he appreciates that the party was cutting out the “tumors” that had grown under the old regime. But the “body,” the population as a whole, must continue to live while the precise incisions are being made. He implies that the party is killing the country by that lack of precision in making changes. Yuri’s independent thought makes Yevgraf the narrator say that Yuri had a “noose” around his head and didn’t realize it. The brother admires Yuri’s poetry but lies and says it is disliked for its “petty bourgeoisie” content, although he takes a volume away with him which shows his respect for the verse. Yevgraf advises Yuri that he must leave the city so his ideas will not be so apparent and arranges transport.

Yuri and his family get on a train headed out of Moscow, where there are many wanting to depart. The party says there are voluntary workers on board, but they are really part of a forced labor contingent, showing how lies are declared as truths. On the train, Yuri looks out of a small window at the vastness of the frozen countryside and stares at the moon above. It mirrors what he did to find some relief from the dire circumstances at his mother’s burial.

The train stops and Yuri is brought aboard the train with Pasha in charge. We learn that Pasha is a renegade in the wilderness eliminating those White Russians fighting for the old guard. He is ruthless in his devout embracing of the revolution. Pasha says that he once admired Yuri’s poetry but because of the party line he says he shouldn’t anymore. The poems are full of “feelings, insights, affections” which seem “trivial” now. Pasha is saying that everything revolves around the economy of the masses and individual expression is irrelevant. He says, “The personal life is dead in Russia. History has killed it.” That includes even his own family, since he hasn’t seen Lara since the revolution began. He admits that even destroying a village is necessary if anyone even sells horses to the Whites. When there is absolute allegiance to any creed without question, the story is saying that tyranny follows.

Despite Yuri’s objections to Pasha’s tactics, the commander releases him. Perhaps because he is the brother of Yevgraf who is a member of the “secret police.” They finally arrive at Alexander’s family home in Varykino, but here, too, the Reds have acquired it and it is locked. They can live in the cottage nearby. They receive news that the czar and his family have been executed, which shows, as Yuri says, “there’s no going back.” The story shows how complacency in life can quickly be eliminated.

Yuri again gazes out the window looking for that feeling of transcendence, but he feels nothing to inspire his poetry writing as he stares at the barren, wintry landscape and cannot put his pen to good use. Tonya is ironing the clothes and as Yuri looks at the activity we know he is thinking of Lara, who, as noted above, did the same when they worked together. Both Alexander and Tonya suggest Yuri get out and go to Yuriatin. What they don’t know is that is where Pasha told Yuri that Lara now resides.

He doesn’t go then, but spring comes, and the fertility of the countryside suggests a connection to Lara who has become a life force symbol suggesting the stirring of passion. There is a shot of a blooming flower and then there is the face of Lara confirming the connection. Yuri sees her in the town library, a place that implies a merging of poetic and female beauty.

They tell each other their stories, walk arm-in-arm, and go to her place where they release their sexual desires for each other. (One can only feel badly for Tonya, who is kind and optimistic through all the trials they endured and is now pregnant). He continues to visit Lara and gets to know her daughter, Katya (Luxy Westmore). He tries to break it off with Lara, who is in tears, and knows he doesn’t have it in him to abandon her.

Red partisans basically kidnap Yuri on the road because they need a doctor in their relentless attacks against what they see are counterrevolutionaries. They can blackmail Yuri as they know about Lara. They justify their crimes against individuals in the name of political beliefs. It seems that there is no end to the purging of those who are not marching to the step of the new guard. To women wandering through the frozen wasteland it doesn’t matter if there are White or Red soldiers, only “soldiers” since death does not have an allegiance. Yuri asks Razin, the Communist leader here, if he ever loved a woman. Razin echoes Pasha about the death of private life when he says he “once had” a wife and four children.

Yuri deserts those that captured him and walks all the way in the wintry weather only to find his family has left Varykino. The half-frozen Yuri goes to Lara’s place where she left him a note saying she heard in the town that he was alive, and left him some food. She wrote she was going to Varykino. Lara returns and nurses Yuri for three months, telling him his family is safe in Moscow. She met Tonya when people told her to look for Yuri at Lara’s place. Tonya wrote Yuri a letter saying that they now have a daughter, and the family is going to Paris, where Tonya spent time. Tonya left his mother’s balalaika at Lara’s, which starts to show how the story is coming full circle. Both Tonya and Lara find each other good people. If history hasn’t killed individual life, it may have softened it, and it appears the suffering has led to an understanding between the two women.  

Of all people to show up, Victor appears and says he is there to help them get out of Russia by going to the eastern shore. He says that Yuri is a deserter, and his poetry is considered subversive. Alexander and Tonya are engaged in a criminal attempt to leave the country. Victor is useful because of his connections on both sides of the fight which has made him a survivor. But his lack of morals and arrogance disgusts Yuri and Lara, and Yuri throws him out. Victor is spiteful in the rejection saying everyone is made of “clay,” that is lowly. He wants to drag everyone down to his selfish, amoral level. Perhaps he is feeling resentful that he can’t be as upright a person as Yuri.

Yuri and Lara do heed Victor’s warning and wish to delay as much as possible their separation at the hands of the Communist Party. They go to the family home at Varykino, which they find a frozen carcass of its old self, like the rest of old Russia. They make the place somewhat livable. During the night there, Yuri finds ink and paper and begins writing poetry that will become the volume dedicated to Lara.

Victor shows up again. He tells Yuri that Pasha is dead. He was acting on his own and carried out deeds without the sanction of the government. The Communist leaders used Lara as bait and now that he’s dead Lara is in jeopardy. Victor’s continued attempts to rescue the couple demonstrate the complexity of his character as he seems to be seeking some redemption.

Lara and her daughter go with Victor and Yuri gives her the balalaika. There is no room on the sled for Yuri. He says he will follow, but Lara knows Yuri would never leave Mother Russia. This time he looks out a window of the house and sees his loss as Para disappears. Lara says to Victor she went with him because she will be a mother again, carrying Tonya, named, most likely, to honor Yuri’s wife. The scene shifts back to Yevgraf and the grown Tonya. He says that for eight years Yuri and Lara were separated. Yevgraf protected his brother in Moscow and got him a job at his old hospital. On a streetcar Yuri, suffering from a heart condition, saw Lara, and, echoing how they first met and did not connect, they again do not meet. Yuri, trying to go after Lara, left the vehicle and died of a heart attack. At the funeral Lara sought Yevgraf’s aid in locating Yuri’s and her daughter. (Why Lara did not say how she and the young Tonya became separated is confusing, as well as how Yuri saw Lara from the streetcar became known to Yevgraf).

While there is a poster of Stalin on display on a wall, Yevgraf says Lara left him and was never heard of again. He says she probably died in a forced labor camp as so many others under the authoritarian rulers of Russia. Tonya finally divulges how she became separated from Lara. She was a young child and there was fighting in the streets and a fire, and she says her “father” let go of her hand. Yevgraf says it was Victor who abandoned her, revealing that he could not shake his selfish survival drive. Yevgraf says he hopes Tonya will consider that he is her uncle and offers the help of a family member. David is the engineer from the beginning of the movie, and he has a name for Tonya, her boyfriend, despite her country’s erasing individuality.

As the young couple walks away Tonya is carrying the balalaika. When asked if she plays well, David tells Yevgraf that she is a master. She says that no one taught her. Passed down from Yuri’s mother, Yevgraf says that the ability to play is a “gift,” just as it was for Yuri’s mother. Despite the upheaval suffered by the country, somehow the bonds that link a family endure.