History Film / DoctorZhivago

** Yevgraf is likewise Tonya's perhaps ''only'' living relative.

* AdaptationalJerkass: While both novel and movie Strelnikov are willing to burn down villages just to make a point, Strelnikov in the movie is cold and repressed in person as well, and lacks his novel counterpart's humanizing moments.
* {{Adorkable}}: Pasha Antipov, who is an earnest revolutionary but also plainly adores Lara.
* AffectionateNickname: Lara lovingly calls her fiancée Pavel "Pasha", Russian being a language fond of nicknames.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Wood pilfering is mentioning by Yevgraf to be grounds for capital punishment. He justifies it as MyCountryRightOrWrong since the Party ordered it so, and also says that 5 million freezing people pilfering wood could destroy Moscow so they must make an example of the first who try.

* DissonantSerenity: The abandoned dacha (country house) full of ice.
* {{Doorstopper}}: The novel was begun by Boris Pasternak in the 1910's and finished 1956!
* DrivenToSuicide: Larissa's mother suspects that Lara is having an affair with Komarovsky and drinks a whole bottle of iodine. Thankfully, she's saved by Alexander and Yuri.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Strelnikov's fate in the movie - he's arrested and commits suicide, both events occuring off-screen. In the book, Strelnikov meets Yuri at Varykino after Lara's departure and kills himself there. For that matter, we also only hear vague descriptions of what happened - or might have happened - to both Komarovsky and Lara.]]

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Yevgraf, the brother Doctor Zhivago, acts as narrator.
* FramingDevice: Yevgraf and Tonya are in the '50s, and most of the story is Yevgraf telling Tonya about his past.

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Pasha receives one down the side of his face when imperial cavalry break up his peaceful protest early on. [[spoiler:Arguably turns into an evil scar when he becomes the brutal WellIntentionedExtremist Strelnikov]].

* MadonnaWhoreComplex / ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: As Komarovsky tells Lara, “There are two kinds of women and you, as we well know, are not the first kind.” He proceeds to call her a slut, and she slaps him. Overall, she is portrayed very sympathetically despite this
* MathematiciansAnswer: Tonya is prone to these when being quizzed by Yevgraf. When asked what her mother's name was, Tonya says "Mummy." When asked to describe her, Tonya says she was "big", because Tonya was small.
* MayDecemberRomance: DirtyOldMan Komarovsky has an affair with Lara. However, the relationship is mostly abusive from the old doctor's part.
* MementoMacguffin: The balalaika, passed on from Yuri's mother, to Yuri, to his daughter Tonya.

* MostWritersAreWriters: Doctor Zhivago becomes a reknowned poet in the Soviet Union.

* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: Both Zhivago and Pasternak are not appreciated until after they and/or Stalin die.
** Pasternak's book was originally [[BannedInChina banned in the Soviet Union]].

* OrphansPlotTrinket: How does Yevgraf know that young Tonya is in fact his niece? She has the balalaika that previously belonged to Yuri, that came from his mother.

* PrettyInMink: Many furs are worn, but most are very stylish.

* RichesToRags: Alexander, Tonya and Zhivago are a well-off family of the haute-bourgeoisis. By the time the Revolution comes, they every possessions, including their homes, is requisitioned to be shared with other people or is stolen.

* SceneryPorn: Culminating on the frozen ''dacha'' (manor house) full of ice.

* AWorldHalfFull: A major them of the film.

* AdaptationDistillation: The movie removes several key characters from the book (eg. Lara's brother, Pasha's father, himself a revolutionary leader, Yuri's friend Misha Gordon), compresses the time span and excises a good amount of the story's historical and cultural background. Especially evident in Yuri's service with the Red partisans, much more prominent in the novel than the film.

* AffectionateNickname: Lara lovingly calls her fiancée Pave, "Pacha". Russian being a language fond of nicknames.
* AnachronicOrder: The movie begins after the second World War with an old Yevgraf Zhivago trying to find his niece and conversing with a worker named Tanya who may be this niece. The rest of the movie then jumps back to the past as Yavgraf narrates what happened to Yuri Zhivago and Lara before and during the Revolution.

* BeardOfSorrow: Both the film and the tv serial show Yuri growing a beard when he is conscripted into the Red Partisan army.

* CaptainErsatz: Strelnikov, the Red Army leader, shares a lot of similarities to UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky, who was leader of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War (most notably, travelling up and down the front on an armoured train)

** The balalaika passed down from Yuri’s mother

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: Strelnikov's fate in the movie - he's arrested and commits suicide, both events occuring off-screen. In the book, Strelnikov meets Yuri at Varykino after Lara's departure and kills himself there. For that matter, we also only hear vague descriptions of what happened - or might have happened - to both Komarovsky and Lara.]]

* GloriousMotherRussia: in Glorious Technicolor.
* GoodScarsEvilScars
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Pasha, arguably, as fighting the Whites has turned him hard and pitiless.

* {{Intermission}}: Used to dramatic effect, as the film reveals that Pasha is still alive, and is TheDreaded "Strelnikov", right before the film cuts to intermission.

* LaResistance: Pasha Antipov, who is distributing pamphlets for the Bolsheviks well before UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

* LoveTriangle: Lara is the focus of both Yuri, Pasha and Komarovsky's affections. Lara has an affair with Komarovsky while Pasha is her fiancé, and Yuri falls in love with her at first sight during a medical visit. Pavel eventually abandons her to focus on revolutionary work and becomes [[spoiler:Strelnikov]]; Komarovsky eventually abandons her after she shoots her. Yuri also happens to be married to his foster sister Tonya who loves him.

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: The story is packed full of odd coincidences. For example, Yuri just happens to run into Lara, years after their first encounter, after Yuri has moved his family deep into Russia's interior. And before that, when Yuri and his family were headed east on the train, they just happen to run into Pasha, in his new identity as Strelnikov.

* TheReveal: The last ten minutes of the movie's first half build up the fear of Strelnikov, the merciless Bolshevik general. And then as his [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority Bright Red]] [[CoolTrain War Train]] passes, we see... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hCczioWiZk It's PASHA!]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: to ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia''.

* ThatManIsDead: There is only Strelnikov. "The personal life is dead", he says, when Yuri tells him about his wife and baby. Turns out not to be true, though, as he eventually tries to get back to Lara--he was five miles away when they caught him--and he insisted on being referred to as Pasha Antipov by his executioners.

* WarIsHell: The movies depicts World War One in its whole horrible glory, as the movie lingers on several shots of frozen corpses as Yevgraf narrates how every soldier was living hell and was thrown into the Germans' crossfire as CannonFodder. The cripples who returned from the war with a missing limbs are deemed to be lucky. Then the Russian civil war is also depicted as a horrible conflict where both Whites and Reds commit atrocities on the locals.

* WhamLine: "Strelnikov."

* AnachronisticOrder: The movie begins after the second World War with an old Yevgraf Zhivago trying to find his niece and conversing with a worker named Tanya who may be this niece. The rest of the movie then jumps back to the past as Yavgraf narrates what happened to Yuri Zhivago and Lara before and during the Revolution.

* FromRichesToRags: Alexander, Tonya and Zhivago are a well-off family of the haute-bourgeoisis. By the time the Revolution comes, they every possessions, including their homes, is requisitioned to be shared with other people or is stolen.

** The literal gun given to Lara by Pasha is later used to shoot Komarovsky

* MadonnaWhoreComplex/ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: As Komarovsky tells Lara, “There are two kinds of women and you, as we well know, are not the first kind.” He proceeds to call her a slut, and she slaps him. Overall, she is portrayed very sympathetically despite this

''Doctor Zhivago'' was also heralded as the last of Creator/{{MGM}}'s great {{Epic Movie}}s, as they announced even during production. They simply didn't have the money to finance these vast vista works with thousands of extras and a cast full of stars: the next movie they made was one twentieth of this cost. The effort seemed to be worth it; when adjusted for inflation, ''Zhivago'' is currently the 9th-highest-grossing film of all time, according to [=BoxOfficeMojo.com=], with its $111 million take in 1965[[note]]as well as subsequent rereleases[[/note]] coming out to nearly ''a billion dollars'' in 2014.

''Doctor Zhivago'' was also heralded as the last of Creator/{{MGM}}'s great {{Epic Movie}}s, as they announced even during production. They simply didn't have the money to finance these vast vista works with thousands of extras and a cast full of stars: the next movie they made was one twentieth of this cost. The effort seemed to be worth it; when adjusted for inflation, ''Zhivago'' is currently the 9th-highest-grossing domestic film of all time, according to [=BoxOfficeMojo.com=], with its $111 million take in 1965[[note]]as well as subsequent rereleases[[/note]] coming out to nearly ''a billion dollars'' in 2014.

''Doctor Zhivago'' was also heralded as the last of Creator/{{MGM}}'s great {{Epic Movie}}s, as they announced even during production. They simply didn't have the money to finance these vast vista works with thousands of extras and a cast full of stars: the next movie they made was one twentieth of this cost. The effort seemed to be worth it; when adjusted for inflation, ''Zhivago'' is currently the 8th-highest-grossing domestic film of all time, according to [=BoxOfficeMojo.com=], with its $111 million take in 1965[[note]]as well as subsequent rereleases[[/note]] coming out to nearly ''a billion dollars'' in 2014.

A [[EpicMovie generation-spanning epic]] about UsefulNotes/TheRussianRevolution, starring Omar Sharif as Yuri Zhivago, a doctor meeting the challenges of a WorldGoneMad. Featuring Creator/JulieChristie as TheIngenue Lara, the object of Yuri's [[TheDulcineaEffect affections]], and Rod Steiger as the manipulative [[MagnificentBastard Komarovsky]]. Other cast members include Creator/AlecGuinness, Creator/GeraldineChaplin, Tom Courtenay, and Creator/RalphRichardson.

A [[EpicMovie generation-spanning epic]] about UsefulNotes/TheRussianRevolution, starring Omar Sharif as Yuri Zhivago, a doctor meeting the challenges of a WorldGoneMad. Featuring Julie Christie as TheIngenue Lara, the object of Yuri's [[TheDulcineaEffect affections]], and Rod Steiger as the manipulative [[MagnificentBastard Komarovsky]]. Other cast members include Creator/AlecGuinness, Creator/GeraldineChaplin, Tom Courtenay, and Creator/RalphRichardson.

A [[EpicMovie generation-spanning epic]] about UsefulNotes/TheRussianRevolution, starring Omar Sharif as Yuri Zhivago, a doctor meeting the challenges of a WorldGoneMad. Featuring Julie Christie as TheIngenue Lara, the object of Yuri's [[TheDulcineaEffect affections]], and Rod Steiger as the manipulative [[MagnificentBastard Komarovsky]]. Other cast members include Creator/AlecGuinness, Creator/GeraldineChaplin, Tom Courtenay, and Ralph Richardson.

With its epic scope, vivid performances, and dramatic SceneryPorn vistas, this is generally regarded as one of Lean's greatest films. It was nominated for ten UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay (Bolt), Cinematography (Freddie Young), Original Score (Maurice Jarre), Art Direction, and Costume Design.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doctor-zhivago_8776.jpg]]

A [[EpicMovie generation-spanning epic]] about UsefulNotes/TheRussianRevolution, starring Omar Sharif as Yuri Zhivago, a doctor meeting the challenges of a WorldGoneMad. Featuring Julie Christie as TheIngenue Lara, the object of Yuri's [[TheDulcineaEffect affections]], and Rod Steiger as the manipulative [[MagnificentBastard Komarovsky]]. Other cast members include Creator/AlecGuinness, Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Courtenay, and Ralph Richardson.

A [[EpicMovie generation-spanning epic]] about TheRussianRevolution, starring Omar Sharif as Yuri Zhivago, a doctor meeting the challenges of a WorldGoneMad. Featuring Julie Christie as TheIngenue Lara, the object of Yuri's [[TheDulcineaEffect affections]], and Rod Steiger as the manipulative [[MagnificentBastard Komarovsky]]. Other cast members include Creator/AlecGuinness, Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Courtenay, and Ralph Richardson.

* RomanovsAndRevolutions: ''Nobody'' expects TheRussianRevolution!

With its epic scope, vivid performances, and dramatic SceneryPorn vistas, this is generally regarded as one of Lean's greatest films. It was nominated for ten {{Academy Award}}s, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay (Bolt), Cinematography (Freddie Young), Original Score (Maurice Jarre), Art Direction, and Costume Design.

''Doctor Zhivago'' was also heralded as the last of Creator/{{MGM}}'s great {{Epic Movie}}s, as they announced even during production. They simply didn't have the money to finance these vast vista works with thousands of extras and a cast full of stars: the next movie they made was one twentieth of this cost. The effort seemed to be worth it; when adjusted for inflation, ''Zhivago'' is currently the 8th-highest-grossing domestic film of all time, according to [=BoxOfficeMojo.com=], with its $111 million take in 1965 coming out to nearly ''a billion dollars'' in 2014.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: Strelnikov's fate in the movie - he's arrested and commits suicide, both events occuring off-screen. In the book, Strelnikov meets Yuri at Varykino after Lara's departure and kills himself there.]]

* CaliforniaDoubling: Being that they couldn't shoot in the Soviet Union, most of the film was shot in Spain.

* DeadpanSnarker: Zhivago takes this tone with the Party delegates who now live in his old house in Moscow upon his return from UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne. They notice. Oh, yes, they notice.

* PunchClockVillain: Yevgraf works for the Bolsheviks but he doesn't quite share their fanatical points of view. Similarly, the Partisan commander openly dislikes the Commissar assigned to his unit and has little use for Communism.

* PunchClockVillain: Yevgraf works for the Bolsheviks but he doesn't quite share their fanatical points of view.

* MoscowCentre: Yevgraf is stated to be a high ranking officer in the SecretPolice (when he introduces himself for the first time to his brother, he is apparently a CHEKA officer. He appears as an NKVD colonel in Moscow, about the time of Yuri's death. He is a KGB general when the movie opens and ends). Local communist party leaders fear him. Strelnikov despises him. A rare sympathetic and human portrayal of a Soviet secret policeman, neither a villain as in the West or socialist superhuman as in official Soviet media.