First Love [Erste Liebe] *** (1970, Maximilian Schell, Dominique Sanda, John Moulder-Brown) – Classic Movie Review 12,270

Director Maximilian Schell’s 1970 tragic love story film First Love [Erste Liebe] is based on Ivan Turgenev’s 1860 novella Pervaya lyubov. The film is written, directed, produced and starred in by Austrian director Maximilian Schell, and stars Schell, Dominique Sanda, and John Moulder-Brown. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (Switzerland) in 1971’s Academy Awards.

It tells the story of two young lovers in czarist Russia – a 21-year-old young woman (Dominique Sanda as Sanaida) and a 16-year-old boy (John Moulder-Brown).

But then the young woman falls in love with the boy’s father (Maximilian Schell).

It is intriguing material with a strong emotional pull, stylishly and delicately handled by Maximilian Schell, and sensitively acted by the three well-cast stars,

It won on the Film Award in Gold for Outstanding Feature Film at the 1971 German Film Awards. Maximilian Schell Won the Silver Seashell award at the 1970 San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Ivan Turgenev’s 1860 novella Pervaya lyubov [First Love] is one of his most popular pieces of short fiction, telling the love story between a 21-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy, retelling an incident from his own life.

John Moulder-Brown (born 3 June 1953) is known for the films Deep End, First Love [Erste Liebe] (1970), Ludwig, King, Queen, Knave (1972) and The House That Screamed. He founded The Academy of Creative Training drama school in Brighton, Sussex, in 1997.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,270

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