69
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt’s impossible not to be swept along and caught by the details: the pompous army officer falling into the barrel, the anarchist (played by a young Klaus Kinski) watching an old couple affectionately cuddling on the train, Zhivago himself suddenly shocked at his own haggard reflection in the mirror. Lean was hunting big game, and catching it.
- Doctor Zhivago is more than a masterful motion picture; it is a life experience.
- 90The sweep and scope of the Russian revolution, as reflected in the personalities of those who either adapted or were crushed, has been captured by David Lean in Doctor Zhivago, frequently with soaring dramatic intensity. Director has accomplished one of the most meticulously designed and executed films--superior in several visual respects to his "Lawrence of Arabia."
- 80EmpireIan NathanEmpireIan NathanStories about love in a world gone mad don't come any more gorgeous, or any more sweepingly epic, than this.
- 80Time OutCath ClarkeTime OutCath ClarkeDoctor Zhivago has the most irritating soundtrack in the history of cinema and yes, it’s old-fashioned and sappy. But it’s impossible not to swoon. This is a love story to sink your teeth into.
- 80TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineAs always, Lean's handling of the purely physical aspects of the material is spectacular, with the scenes of revolution, the harsh Russian winters, and Zhivago's trek across the steppes simply unforgettable.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSo, yes, it's soppy and manipulative and mushy. But that train looks real enough to ride.
- 70Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrIntelligent and handsomely mounted, though it doesn't use its length to build to a particularly complex emotional effect. It's a thin, snaky epic with more breadth than body, rather like watching an entire Masterpiece Theatre chapter play in a single sitting.
- 50The New York TimesBosley CrowtherThe New York TimesBosley CrowtherAnd this is the weakness of the film. Mr. Bolt has reduced the vast upheaval of the Russian Revolution to the banalities of a doomed romance.
- Even granting the enormous difficulty of adapting such a long and complex book, I do not see how a worse job could have been done. Jack–rabbiting along in fits and starts, it gives one the feeling that the book has been arbitrarily chopped up into an irrelevant series of scenes, attempting an unsuccessful compromise between intimacy and the epic.