Irina Arkadina (Annette Bening) knows how to make an entrance, even when such theatricality isn’t quite appropriate. As an actress she probably can’t help it, but a little restraint might be in order: Her brother, Sorin (Brian Dennehy), whom she has come to visit, isn’t in the best of health.
Also living on the country estate is Irina’s son, Konstantin (Billy Howle), an aspiring playwright who insists that the kind of theater to which his mother has devoted her life is hopelessly outdated. But then, he has a poor opinion of Irina in general. And he can’t stand her lover, Boris Trigorin (Corey Stoll), a phenomenally successful writer who has come along for the trip.
Konstantin may have a point. Trigorin comes across as a smooth operator who isn’t necessarily concerned about the consequences of his actions. He also has a roving eye. His latest target is Nina (Saoirse Ronan), a young woman from a neighboring estate who clearly cares for Konstantin but is also vulnerable to Trigorin’s entreaties.
People are also reading…
Someone is bound to get hurt. The question is, who will suffer the most?
Based on a classic play by Anton Chekhov, “The Seagull” had the potential to be one of the best films of the year. Instead, it’s a crushing disappointment. Working from an adaptation by Stephen Karam, director Michael Mayer seems so intent on speeding up the story — the film clocks in at slightly more than an hour and a half — that it fails to register. The skeleton is there, but not the substance.
A fine cast is left to emote in a vacuum, struggling to make us care about characters that have been reduced to stick figures. It’s just sad to see Oscar nominees Bening and Ronan caught in this mess. And one has to wonder why the film was even made if it had to be so disastrously compromised.
Chekhov would be appalled.
What “The Seagull” • 1½ stars out of four • Run time 1:38 • Rating PG-13 • Content Mature thematic elements, violence, drug use and partial nudity
