This is one of the most powerful versions of this play you could ever hope to see. Every now and then, you witness a performance and think "gee, this really has to be the DEFINITIVE performance of the work, the one by which I'll always measures all others"--it's THAT good.
Each actress brings to each part--large and small--total commitment, intelligence, consummate skill; the direction, staging, costumes and set designs all balance the dramatic realism with the poetic symbolism, in a way that is extremely well-suited to the play.
The play is suffocating--it is meant to be--and dark, gloomy, and, as befits a story about unsatisfied women, a roller-coaster of hysterics, tears, shrieks, and desperate whispers. This performance of it is one you can return to over and over again, for the sheer genius and musicality of all the performers, a SUPERB English translation that never detracts from the play, and the extreme power of the emotions treated by the play.
It belongs in any serious collection of dramatic films, an is one of the most successful television versions of a play which I have ever seen.
Each actress brings to each part--large and small--total commitment, intelligence, consummate skill; the direction, staging, costumes and set designs all balance the dramatic realism with the poetic symbolism, in a way that is extremely well-suited to the play.
The play is suffocating--it is meant to be--and dark, gloomy, and, as befits a story about unsatisfied women, a roller-coaster of hysterics, tears, shrieks, and desperate whispers. This performance of it is one you can return to over and over again, for the sheer genius and musicality of all the performers, a SUPERB English translation that never detracts from the play, and the extreme power of the emotions treated by the play.
It belongs in any serious collection of dramatic films, an is one of the most successful television versions of a play which I have ever seen.