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Uncle Vanya lives on the estate with his mother and niece. The husband of Vanya's late sister Professor Srebrnyakov whom the family adores, pays them a visit with his young wife. Uncle Vanya has served him unselfishly all his life. However, the professor is an egoist without any talent. Disappointed, Vanya remains lonely just as all the other characters are also lonely and unhappy. In his film Konchalovsky underscored the disharmony of emotions and introduced a harsh crisis in the drama whilst avoiding to succumb to too much elegy and excessive despair. ANDREY MIKHALKOV KONCHALOVSKY (1937) comes from the well-known artistic family MikhalkovKonchalovksy. His great-grandfather Vassily Surikov and his grandfather Pyotr Konchalovsky were well-known painters, his father Sergei Mikhalkov is a writer (author of the text for the Soviet anthem), his mother is a poet and his younger brother Nikita Mikhalkov famous film director and actor. A. Konchalovsky studied at the Moscow Conservatory to become a concert pianist. Subsequently he attended the State Film School under Mikhail Rom (Andrey Tarkovsky's teacher). A.Konchalobsky is a writer, director, producer, actor, composer. He wrote scripts for films such as Ivan's Childhood, And rey Rublyov, The Slave of Love etc. He directed and authored scripts for: The First Teacher, A Nest of Gentle Folk, Uncle Vanya, Maria's Lovers, Sibehade, The Inner Circle about Stalin's cameraman etc. His second film, Asya Klyachlna's Story (1967) was banned until 1988. In 1980 he left for the USA where he made, among others, the Runaway Train based on the script by Akiro Kurosava.

Had I listened to the critics, I would have died drunk in a ditch. A. P. Chekhov