luni, 3 iulie 2017

Anastasia, based on a play by Marcelle Maurette and Guy Bolton, 8 out of 10

Anastasia, based on a play by Marcelle Maurette and Guy Bolton
8 out of 10

Notes and thoughts on other books are available at:


Anastasia is an excellent film.
It is included on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list:


The brilliant Ingrid Bergman has the role of Anastasia or Anna Koreff
And she won:

-          The Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
-          And the Golden Globe in the same category, obviously

Yul Brynner is equally impressive, even if he was not even nominated for the awards, as the General Sergei Bounine.
And I believe that the story is intriguing.

In fact, it seems that I am unable to accept the explanations connected with this film that purport to say that

-          Anna Koreff was a fraud

Like other personages of this narrative, I have doubts…
-          What if she really was Anastasia?

The story begins with a historical explanation, in which the audience is told about the tragic end of the czar and his family.
With the victory- which I see as such a tragedy- affecting my personal life and my family- of the Bolsheviks, the ruling family is arrested.

They are then taken all together, the barbarity of the communists had no compassion for children, and shot dead.
Given the clumsiness and the infamous inability of the Bolsheviks to accomplish tasks, it was said that there was a survivor…

-          The Grand Duchess Anastasia

Bounine and other Russian exiles have been trying for some time to get a hold of the ten million pounds that were stashed in the Bank of England.
The ruling family had placed them there and a potential heir could claim them, therefore Anastasia would be invaluable.

Different impostors have showed up and one way or another they have been dismissed until Anna Koreff is found.
General Bounine is set about training and explaining the ways of the court, the manner of addressing different people.

Maybe he does such a great job that we can think of My Fair Lady, Pygmalion in which the hero makes a lady out of a flower girl.
Of course, the real conclusion might be the opposite, that there is a lady in each and every flower girl and education is only needed to bring that out.

Anna Koreff could be Anastasia after all.
She has wounds that could have been caused by the executioners or other accidents- perhaps an explosion.
In the story, the protagonist crosses into…Romania.

She even spends time in a hospital in Bucharest and a man comes to talk to her, claiming that he knows her.
This is of personal interest, for I live in Bucharest.

A climax is reached when Anna Koreff or/aka Anastasia has to meet the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna.
The latter is the ultimate authority and her rejection or stamp of approval would make the final difference.

A love story adds spice to the narrative, albeit it may not be the Prince charming that actually proves a little flawed and interested in material wealth and titles that gets to conquer, win the heart of…again:


-          Anna Koreff or Anastasia…are they one and the same?

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