Who doesn’t love a little Russian tragicomedy? Chekhov did. No, not Chekhov from Star Trek, I’m talking about Anton. The movie The Seagull is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play by the same name. Here’s the scoop: Friends and family gather at a Russian estate and spend the weekend “passionately loving someone who loves somebody else.” Sounds fun and lighthearted and in some instances it is. But there’s a real melancholy to Chekhov’s story. At the heart of it, it’s all about the sometimes destructive power of art, what people will do for it, what happens when you can’t make it the way you want, the problem with romanticizing it, and finally the inherent folly of obsessive love. The film stars Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan (who is a very busy young actress right now), Corey Stoll, Elisabth Moss (from Madmen and A Hanndmaid’s Tale), and Billy Howle.
