War and Peace (1965)

Original title

Война и мир

Directed by

Sergei Bondarchuk

Genre

drama film, war film, epic film, romance film, historical film

Country

Soviet Union

Runtime

7h 12m

Rated

12

Rating

7.6 of 10 from 159 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

During the Napoleonic Wars, several Russian aristocrats grapple with love, loss, and their place in a changing world. The story follows Pierre Bezukhov, a wealthy but searching man; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, a disillusioned soldier; and Natasha Rostova, a spirited young woman. Their personal dramas unfold against a backdrop of massive battles and the French invasion of Russia.

grandsweepingintimateromantictragichistoricalslow-burnvisually lushserious

What happens

War and Peace (Russian: Война и мир, romanized: Voyna i mir) is a 1965–1967 Soviet epic war drama film co-written and directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, adapted from Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel. Released in four installments throughout 1965 and 1967, the film starred Bondarchuk in the leading role of Pierre Bezukhov, alongside Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Ludmila Savelyeva, who depicted Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova. The film was produced by the Mosfilm studios between 1961 and 1967, with considerable support from the Soviet authorities and the Soviet Army which provided hundreds of horses and over ten thousand soldiers as extras. At a cost of 8.29 million Rbls (equal to US$9.21 million at 1967 rates, or $60–70 million in 2019, accounting for rouble inflation) it was the most expensive film made in the Soviet Union. Upon its release, it became a success with audiences, selling approximately 135 million tickets in the USSR. War and Peace also won the Grand Prix in the Moscow International Film Festival, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Since its release, the film has often been considered the grandest epic film ever made, with many asserting its monumental production to be unrepeatable and unique in film history. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• War and Peace, Part I: Andrei Bolkonsky (1965)
• War and Peace, Part III: The Year 1812 (1967)
• The Tsar's Bride (1965)
• Princess Mary (1955)
• We, The Russian People (1965)
• Khochu verit (1965)
• Storm over Asia (1965)
• Faithfulness (film) (1965)