The Barber of Siberia

Jane Callahan (Julia Ormond) travels to Moscow from Massachusetts in 1885, masquerading as the daughter of an eccentric inventor (Richard Harris), who needs money to complete the field trials of his monstrous tree-felling machine that will devastate forests and feed the pulp mills of an entire continent. Her art is seduction and her business to elicit financial support from rich aristocrats within Czar Alexander's court. On the train, she meets a high-spirited group of young army cadets and makes particular friends with one of them, Andrey Tolstoy (Oleg Menshikov), who, over a bottle of champagne, falls in love with her.


Jane's character is ill-defined. She is not exactly a courtesan on a foreign assignment and yet appears, by European standards, to be unusually independent. Her flirtatious charm is hard to resist and yet there is something superficial about her, something lightweight. Being from the New World, her sophistication is affected rather than ingrained and, like anyone who uses flattery as a calling card, she finds it hard to distinguish genuine emotion from false feelings.Andrey has the courage of a clown. He is not afraid to follow his heart, even if it leads into an abyss. He acts on impulse and with fortitude, often ending in farce, or trouble. He is loyal to the Czar and to the principals of the officer code. Driven by an unconsummated passion for Jane, he allows jealousy to crucify him.Mikhalkov does not disappoint. Visually the film is stunning, recapturing a sense of wonder, even madness, that incorporates the soul of Mother Russia. The story is told in flashback 20 years on. This North American section is less than successful, not that it detracts from the whole. Moscow in winter at the end of the 19th century has a magic all its own.The performances are worthy of Mikhalkov's grand vision. Ormond, sadly missed since Smilla's Sense Of Snow, is an intelligent actress, who finds strength beyond beauty. Instead, she finds strength beyond beauty, hinting at the anguish of a duplicitous nature. The film belongs to Menshikov. He is both tragic and hilarious, a foolish boy, a ruined man. Such exquisite acting defies praise. It is enough to be there and experience the unpredictability of a unique and thrilling talent.Critics should not forget that cinema is about entertainment. They blame Mikhalkov because he did not make another high brow artistic movie like « Burnt by the sun ». I liked both movies equally well, different as they are. Critics say Mikhalkov presented a phony image of old Russia. Of course, his billboard image of tsarist Russia is not devoid of clichés and camp, but what a glorious camp it is! Mikhalkov is accused of painting a much too rosy picture of old Russia. But are the Russians (and other people) not entitled to some glimpses of the beautiful Russia that could have been, but somehow never seems able to materialize in this century of gloom? The critics point out that the movie has a lot of formal weaknesses. To the heck with the critics ! This movie may not have a very deep message, but I think it illustrates, in a poetic way, the difficulty Russians and Westerners have at understanding each other. From mine point of view the main idea of this movie was to show the emotions of youth in those days in Russia. Friendship, love and honor were the virtues that were truly valued. Every one of those emotions were shown in the best possible way. The things I didn't like in that movie, were the overplayed roles of some characters and too long scenes showing the russian passion for drinking. But those shouldn't be that big obstacles for not loving everything else. If you didn't like the story of this film, you should watch it at least because of the incredible performance of the russian actor Oleg Menshikov, which dimmes everyone else appearance, even the fabulous Julia Ormond. You can find everything in it - passion, desire, fight, love and hate, tiers...Watching some scenes you laugh and others you cry. Excellent actor performances and a beautiful music make the movie unforgettable. So forget everything you have heard or read about and better go and see it with our own eyes.