Nikita MIKHALKOV
Никита МИХАЛКОВ
Nikita MIKHALKOV
Russia / Italy, 1987, 121mn 
Colour, fiction
Ochi chornye
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Очи черные

 

 Dark Eyes

 Les Yeux noirs

 
Directed by : Nikita MIKHALKOV (Никита МИХАЛКОВ)
Writing credits : Aleksandr ADABASHIAN (Александр АДАБАШЬЯН), Nikita MIKHALKOV (Никита МИХАЛКОВ)
 
Cast
Yuri BOGATYRYOV (Юрий БОГАТЫРЕВ) ...Romano et maréchal de la noblesse
Galina BOKASHEVSKAYA (Галина БОКАШЕВСКАЯ)
Aleksandr FILIPPENKO (Александр ФИЛИППЕНКО) ...Fonctionnaire de Saint-Pétersbourg
Pavel KADOCHNIKOV (Павел КАДОЧНИКОВ) ...Chef de table
Marthe KELLER (Марта. КЕЛЛЕР) ...Tina
Vsevolod LARIONOV (Всеволод ЛАРИОНОВ)
Avangard LEONTIEV (Авангард ЛЕОНТЬЕВ)
Marcello MASTROIANNI (Марчелло МАСТРОЯННИ) ...Roman
Yelena SAFONOVA (Елена САФОНОВА) ...Anna
Innokenti SMOKTUNOVSKY (Иннокентий СМОКТУНОВСКИЙ)
Oleg TABAKOV (Олег ТАБАКОВ)
 
Production design : Aleksandr ADABASHIAN (Александр АДАБАШЬЯН)
Sound : Aleksandr POGOSIAN (Александр ПОГОСЯН)
Other persons :
Cameraman : Franco Di Giacomo (Франко Ди Джакомо)
Companies : Lenfilm, Excelsior Film-TV/Rai Uno
 
Sites : Page Allociné, page IMDb
Release date in France : 1987-09-09, Site

Awards :
Best actor Marcello MASTROIANNI , Festival de Cannes, Cannes (France), 1987

DVD with subtitles
Editor : Ruscico.
Sous-titres : EN
Editor : Potemkine. 2011. Titre : Coffret Nikita Mikhalkov 1970-1980.
Description du produit :
Coffret de 8 digipacks avec fourreau
Contient (en masters réstaurés) :
- Le nôtre parmi les autres (1974 - 92 minutes)
- L’Esclave de l’amour (1976 - 90 minutes)
- Partition inachevée pour piano mécanique (1977 - 97 minutes)
- Cinq soirées (1979 - 98 minutes)
- Quelques jours de la vie d’Oblomov (1980 - 135 minutes)
- La parentèle (1981 - 95 minutes)
- Sans témoins (1983 - 90 minutes)
- Les Yeux noirs (1987 - 113 minutes)

Plot synopsis
Oci Ciornie was an international co-production tailored for Marcello Mastroianni. It received good reviews in Italy and France, and Mastroianni was awarded "Best Actor" at the Cannes Film Festival. However, some in Russia felt that director Mikhalkov (who previously received wide acclaim for another Chekhov adaptation, (An Unfinished Piece for the Player Piano) tried too hard to cater to foreign tastes rather than to convey Chekhov's mood. So this film conveys more of a foreign idea what Chekhov is about rather than a Russian one. In the story, Romano (Marcello Mastroianni) is living the life of a "kept" man in that he is the penniless husband of a rich aristocratic woman who supports him. Whenever life at home becomes too difficult for him, he goes off to some spa or other for a "rest cure." In addition to resting, the clownish fellow flirts shamelessly with the women he finds at these resorts. During one of his restorative excursions, he meets a shy Russian woman named Anna, whom he is much taken with. When she leaves to return to her life at home, he resolves to follow her and woo her there. With a great deal of buffoonery and ingenuity (such as pretending to be a manufacturer of a special kind of glass), he gets a visa to travel into Russia. There, he finds her unhappily married to a minor official, and before he leaves for Europe he promises to return and marry her. When he gets back home, he finds that his aristocratic wife is experiencing a genuine crisis (her family has lost its money), and he soon forgets about Anna and his promises to her.
Clarke Fountain, www.allmovie.com
 

commentaries
Les yeux noirs - Nikita Mikhalkov - critique, avoir-alire.com, 2024
4 Nikita Mikhalkov films that have become world cinema classics, Valery Kuznetsov, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2020
CineClassic. Les Yeux noirs, de Nikita Mikhalkov., courrierinternational.com, 2010
 

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Russian or Soviet films awarded at Berlin, Cannes or Venice, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2023
- Russian Film Festival in Niort, Niort (France), 2018
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2016
- Angers Festival Premiers Plans, Angers (France), 2013
- Aye Aye Film Festival Nancy-Lorraine, Nancy (France), 2012
- Soirées du cinéma russe de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (France), 2012
- Kyiv International Film Festival, Kiev (Ukraine), 2012
- Kyiv International Film Festival, Kiev (Ukraine), 2011
- Retrospective Nikita Mikhalkov in Paris, Paris (France), 2010
- Lecce European Film Festival, Lecce (Italy), 2008
- Festival de Cannes, Cannes (France), 1987
- Release in France of the film, Different cities (France), 1987-09-09