
Dr Zhivago adapted for the screen
“Dr Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak completed his novel in 1956 but it was not until it was smuggled out of Russia and published in the west in 1958 that it became famous. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature the same year, which the Soviet authorities pressurised him to refuse. He died in 1960 of natural causes.
It is a book that, both in its style and themes, throws its characters into stark relief against the panorama of history. The protagonist is a poet and a doctor, essentially an idealist and romantic, who is caught up in the huge upheaval of the Russian Revolution. He is in love with two women, a conflict that mirrors his attempt to reconcile his individual sense of morality with the ruthless struggle for power he witnesses around him.
Written in the third person, it paints a detailed and atmospheric portrait of Russian society that is, at the same time, restrained (this is no Gone With The Wind) and slightly detached in a very modern fashion. The narrative often darts ahead, filling in background events as it goes, and it is imbued with a sense of fatalism. Its epic quality derives from a sense that the characters are caught up in tidal forces that are beyond their control.
The motives of the characters are not always fully explained and some of the crucial scenes happen during gaps in the narrative. Pasternak often approaches these crises in his characters’ lives obliquely; as Robert Bolt describes it, with an “aesthetic reticence”. This does not make the adaptor’s job any easier.
Dr Zhivago has been adapted numerous times, including a musical. It was twice made into a television mini-series in the last decade but probably still the most famous version is the star-studded 1965 adaptation which was a real cultural phenomenon, sparking off dress fashions and getting its evocative theme tune by Maurice Jarre into the hit parade.
For comparison, here are three different versions of a scene adapted from the book. Also provided for reference are extracts from the original text and from Robert Bolt’s screenplay.
Doctor Zhivago 1965
Directed by David Lean, produced by Carlo Ponti and adapted for the screen by Robert Bolt. Lean’s version of the story, mostly filmed in Spain, creates a mythic version of Russia that is large scale, strikingly composed and visually ravishing; a cut above most of the Hollywood epics of the period whilst still belonging firmly to the genre.
Robert Bolt had already collaborated closely with David Lean on Lawrence of Arabia (largely based on Lawrence’s The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom). He did the same with Zhivago which, given Lean’s exacting standards, was not always easy.
As Bolt says in the preface to the published screenplay: “We fought our way line by line and even sometimes shot by shot from one end of the screenplay to the other, many times over.”
Nevertheless, Bolt acknowledges the collaboration was invaluable: “For a writer to produce a screenplay and then hand it to a director whose intention is quite different is a waste of time and effort for the writer – and for the director an exasperation”.
The Adaptation
Bolt’s script necessarily condenses the novel to fit into its 197 minutes; book-ending the main story with a subplot that involves Zhivago’s half-brother (Alec Guinness) telling his daughter about her father. This device allows Guinness to act as a narrator, filling in background details throughout the film.
Bolt begins Zhivago’s story with the funeral of his father and ends it with his own death. Many of the minor characters are cut or combined and some key scenes are artfully condensed into a few seconds of screen-time (for example the break up between Lara and Yuri in Yuriatin – see ‘Scene Structure’) or dramatised without dialogue like the famous ‘candle scene’ between Pasha and Lara.
In the scene shown here, Bolt dispenses with the minor character of the Public Prosecutor (who features in both other versions) and has the bullet wound Komarovsky as intended. Nothing is particularly lost by the omission and an extra edge is added to the exchange between the men. Combining characters in this way is a typical technique used by adaptors of novels, which often feature many minor characters and subplots.
Bolt also introduces Pasha, Lara’s fiancée, into the scene, underlining and strengthening one of the key themes in the film: the difference between the social classes and between youthful idealism and the cynicism of the elite. Intended or not, this must have struck a chord with sixties audiences.
Dr Zhivago 2002
Directed by Giacomo Campiotti, adapted by Andrew Davies and produced by ITV for British television, this was only an hour longer than the Lean version. With a budget of seven million, it was not lacking in production values but the critical reception was mixed in Britain and it did not make the impact that was probably intended. Many of the winter scenes were filmed in Slovakia but ironically there was not enough snow and, just as Lean did in Spain, some of the scenes were faked with artificial substitutes.
The series was the first to challenge the legendary status of the feature film, for which it deserves sympathy, but it was not helped by weak casting in some of the central roles and by a script that often felt ponderous, despite Davies’ reputation as an outstanding adaptor of classics.
The Adaptation
In interview, Andrew Davies reports having initial problems with the director in establishing a shared vision of the adaptation but this was apparently resolved satisfactorily.
Davies does include the suicide of Zhivago’s father in his plot but changes the story in other ways. In his version, Zhivago is given a son who attends his funeral at the end, echoing the earlier scene, and is finally left an abandoned orphan.
We also see Lara being arrested and sent to a camp rather than the enigmatic ending in the book (also used in Lean’s film): “ … she died or vanished somewhere, forgotten as a nameless number on a list which was afterwards mislaid.”
The scene shown here relies upon much of its dramatic impact on the moment Lara takes her shot but she is portrayed as somebody in a trance and her motives never clearly emerge. Komarovsky, played with Machiavellian charm by Sam Neill, also lacks dimension. He is so obviously a roué and arch manipulator that Yuri’s dislike of him seems gauche.
Altogether this is a painstaking but rather prosaic version that doesn’t manage to transcend its stylistic origins as television ‘costume drama.’ It’s hard not to agree with the New York Times critic who said: “By trying so hard for authenticity, this Doctor Zhivago drains the story of much of its lyricism … Mr Lean’s grander, glossier version was a closer match to the romantic spirit of the novel’s hero …”
Dr Zhivago 2006
Directed by Alexander Proshkin and adapted by Yury Arabov, this eleven part television adaptation was made for a Russian cable channel and followed in the wake of a highly successful version of The Master and Margarita, transmitted on Russian national tv. It featured two young Russian film stars, Oleg Menshikov as Yuri and Chulpan Khamatova as Lara, as well as the veteran Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky in the part of Kamorovsky.
With a budget of four million dollars, the cinematographer was Gennady Karyuk, who had previously worked with Tarkovsky and Nikita Mikhalkov. Because little of the architecture of pre-revolution Moscow exists today, many of the period scenes were filmed on an old Mosfilm set that has been used in many Russian epics.
The Russian version was to some extent reactive to the previous versions, in particular David Lean’s, the feeling being that they presented a false and simplistic vision of Russia full of ludicrous inaccuracies (to give one example: the balalaika that featured in the 1965 film was a peasant instrument, unlikely to be played by a middle class Russian). Yevgeny Pasternak, the author’s son, denounced Lean’s film as a caricature – but he also hated this version too.
The Adaptation
This adaptation also begins with the suicide of Zhivago’s father. It has a younger cast in the leading roles than the film, like the BBC version, but they are thankfully stronger. More time is given to Zhivago’s war-time experiences and the most notable inclusion is the sub-plot concerning Pasha’s family. It provides a more detailed picture of the lot of working-class Russians and this adds depth and realism to the story.
Since this is the longest version, you would expect it to retain the greatest fidelity to the original and that is certainly true. It has some of the trappings of a costume drama but there is, unsurprisingly, an unforced authenticity about it.
In contrast to the others, the shooting scene in this version is understated, almost laconic, with its ‘false alarm’ happening just before. Yuri knows Lara, and even remonstrates with her, and the confrontation between Komarovsky and Yuri is much more veiled. The Public Prosecutor is retained and the immediate conclusion of the onlookers is that Lara’s motives are political. This was very believable for a time when anarchists often attempted to assassinate public figures.
Possibly, in some ways, Lean still comes closer to the poetic spirit of the novel (as even some Russians agree) but this is an intelligent and perceptive account of the book’s social and moral themes.
For reference:
Extract from “Dr Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak (PDF)
Extract from “Dr Zhivago” screenplay by Robert Bolt (PDF)
David Clough ©2011