Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)

88% of critics liked it
(34 reviews)
75% of users liked it
(1,229 ratings)

In the late 1980s, noted theatrical director Andre Gregory assembled a group of friends and actors and began rehearsing a new translation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya by David Mamet, not with any specific performance in mind but as a way of exploring the beauty and precise construction of… More In the late 1980s, noted theatrical director Andre Gregory assembled a group of friends and actors and began rehearsing a new translation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya by David Mamet, not with any specific performance in mind but as a way of exploring the beauty and precise construction of Chekhov's play. Louis Malle, a friend of Gregory's, became interested in the project and spent two weeks filming Gregory's actors as they performed Uncle Vanya without an audience in a run-down theater near New York's Times Square. In these performances, the line between theater and real life is blurred as conversations between actors -- juggling take-out cups of coffee and wearing street clothes -- slowly grow into a superb performance of Chekhov's classic, with Wallace Shawn as Vanya, Julianne Moore as Yelena, Brooke Smith as Sonya, and Larry Pine as Dr. Astrov. With a certain sad irony, this marvelously realized adaptation of a play about people wondering what they've done with their lives proved to be Louis Malle's final film; he died of cancer in 1995. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 59 min.
Directed By: Louis Malle
Written By: Anton Chekhov, David Mamet
Genres: Drama, Comedy, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jun 1, 1995 Wide
On DVD: Sep 24, 2002
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
It's amazing it has taken Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, and director Louis Malle more than 10 years to collaborate again. It was worth the wait, though.
Todd McCarthy, Variety
The performances are precise, the language is alive and well spoken and the setting is striking, but Vanya on 42nd Street still suffers rather heavily from the limitations of filmed theater.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Malle adeptly eases us into the play so we can't tell at what precise moment Chekhov takes over, an ambiguity that becomes the film's triumph as well as its key limitation.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
The elegant understatement of this production turns it into a livelier experiment, a fluent, gripping version of one of Chekhov's more elusive plays.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
This live-wire Vanya, freshly observed for the '90s, is fiercely funny, touching and vital.
Hal Hinson, Washington Post
In terms of dramatic action, almost nothing happens, and yet Malle's fluid, invisible style carries us deep into the hearts and minds of these characters.
Sean Axmaker, Turner Classic Movies Online
... a record of a creative collaboration that has a life of its own, at once documentary, filmed rehearsal, play within a play, and private production restaged for a camera...
Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine
A comedy once became a tragedy, then that tragedy became an American drama, which became an actor's workshop, which became a film that supposedly made Pauline Kael want to end her retirement. That film is now an essential Blu-ray.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Reuniting with Andrew Gregory, Louis Malle, in what became his swan song, has made a modern, captivation version of the Chekhov play.
, Empire Magazine
The drawback, however, is that the actors chew the scenery in true stagecraft fashion, which, on film, induces regular wincing and a wish that they would hand out the valium and take it easy.
, Film4
Not entirely successful, but undeniably brave.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
There are moments of considerable power here but this stripped-down rendering gives us something closer to a latterday dysfunctional family than Chekhov's doomed bourgeoisie.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
It offers a unique viewing at a work in progress.
, Time Out
There's more power here than in all the multi-million dollar fireworks of Hollywood.
Sarah Chauncey, Reel.com
A movie by, about and for actors.
Dragan Antulov, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Despite great acting, the general impression of the film is underwhelming.
Elbert Ventura, PopMatters
It's more than a worthy capper to Malle's brilliant career.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Alec B

It strips Chekhov to its bare bones and its that simplicity of the production as well as the upfront acknowledgement of the artifice of this performance and the theatre in general that makes this work so well. I also like that Louis Malle just decided to film what the actors and Andre… More
It strips Chekhov to its bare bones and its that simplicity of the production as well as the upfront acknowledgement of the artifice of this performance and the theatre in general that makes this work so well. I also like that Louis Malle just decided to film what the actors and Andre Gregory had put together over their extensive rehearsal and improvisation process without trying to transform it into something else, because whats there is pretty damn remarkable. Its some of the very best ensemble work I've ever seen.
Anastasia B

Amazing. Louis Malle makes a film about the love for the theater, and the love for the art, and the joy, the insight that it provides to life. All the cast is exemplary, but I think Brooke Smith is the revelation here. It takes a while to grow on you, but if you go past the first few… More
Amazing. Louis Malle makes a film about the love for the theater, and the love for the art, and the joy, the insight that it provides to life. All the cast is exemplary, but I think Brooke Smith is the revelation here. It takes a while to grow on you, but if you go past the first few slow minutes, you're about to experience a real journey into the heart of the thespian mystery.
Anthony V

Once it gets going, you forget there's no costumes or set.