Product Details

• Actors: Alisa Frejndlikh, Larisa Guzeyeva, Nikita Mikhalkov, Andrei Miagkov, Aleksei Petrenko
• Directors: Eldar Ryazanov
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Russian (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Chinese, Russian, Dutch, Arabic, Japanese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: November 19, 2002
• Run Time: 145 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006LPEH
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,474 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #57 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > European Cinema > Russia
  #64 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Original Language > Russian

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Unforgettable music and songs highlight this beloved favorite of Russian cinema. The beautiful Larissa, daughter of an impoverished noblewoman, lives in a small town on the Volga River. She falls madly in love with Sergei, who returns her feelings as long as it serves his purposes. In fact he is secretly engaged to another girl, while Larissa is wooed by another man she despises. Romantic complications ensue which leave the lovers' destinies forever changed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great if you speak Russian, September 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Cruel Romance [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I realize the listing doesn't state that the video is subtitled, but because Amazon listed it by the English title I assumed that that it was. Anyone interested in this video should be forewarned that it is the Russian original, with NO SUBTITLES. It's a great movie, but if you don't speak Russian, you'll just be looking at the pictures.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terribly sad, October 3, 2003

By	Lora Kashins (TWINSBURG, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This is one of the saddest movies that I have ever seen in my life, and I love drama. It is a great story of a love that can never be in a world of Czarist Russia. Wonderfully acted, with some of Russia's greatest actors of that time in lead roles. A profound work of movie making, which leads to question society as a whole.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful movie, March 20, 2004

By	Jorge Reyes (Quebec, QC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Consider the plot of a very beautiful young woman, whose life ahead is full of promise.. But consider also that this girl's life is actually torn apart by events which seem (apparently) out of her immediate control, like if fate was conspiring against her at every other corner. Even her mother, willingly or not, at some point "sells" her -though like every other mother she blindly believes doing what's best for her daughter's future. Zhestokij Romans is sinonimous to drama: just watch the final scene, which is so powerful, telling and poetic...

I especially enjoyed the Gipsy scenes. All that dancing, joy and vodka were very moving in this film. Just as Yugoslav director Emir Kosturica has immortalised the Gipsy people (i.e. "Underground") we also see in "Zhestokij" droves of joyful Gipsies carrying everywhere they go that sound which is at the same time melancholic and joyous. Some other scenes reminded me of "Svadba" (Pavel Lounguine) a film which also features lots of partying and rivers of vodka despite the imminent disgrace and bitterness of life. I even found some parallels with "Luna Papa" another film from the former Soviet republics in which a young and pretty girl has to rapidly mature and leap from childhood into adulthood.

The Gipsy scenes also served as a very effective contrast between joy and doom. While they kept dancing, tragedy was occurring elsewhere. It's like they say: one man's happiness is another man's suffering.