The Seagull (2018)

Based on the play by Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896.

Told in a circular fashion, it starts as a group of people gather at a country estate around a dying man: his sister (an actress), her son (a writer), her lover (also a writer), the estate manager, his wife, their daughter, her husband (a schoolteacher), a medical doctor, a young actress who used to live in the estate's vicinity. After a brief prologue, there is a long flashback with the same characters at the estate years earlier; the fim then returns to the present time for a conclusion. The plot is basically  thus: the young girl who wants to be an actress falls in love with the old actress's lover; the old actress's son, who is the young woman's boyfriend, is heartbroken; the manager's daughter loves the old actress's son, and is loved by the schoolteacher.

I have never seen or read the play, or do not remember. One can tell this is an adaptation from a play, but it is sufficiently well written and well directed as to work as a film on its own. I thought at times it is a bit overscored, especially at the beginning. The actors are passable. I found it a bit elliptic, and I don't know how much of the play's dialogue was excised, but perhaps in a movie the flowing of the narrative is more important. To be honest, it did not impress me as one could expect from the play's fame. But it is a coherent story, with coherent characters, and overall it is quite watchable. The seagull thing was quite incomprehensible though.

Rating: 55