The Duchess

It seems that Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace («Война и миръ», Voyna i mir) novel is like the holy grail of every director who respects himself. It has been adapted for film, TV, opera, radio. Imdb list 9 War and Peace adaptations including 2 silent films. The novel was first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of the world literature. It is considered Tolstoy’s finest literary achievement, along with his other major prose work Anna Karenina (1873–1877).

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I have just watched the very first episode of The Onedin Line, a 1971 BBC production and although I am perfectly ready to admit that I am long overdue, I cannot help but feeling a new obsession coming up.

Plot: James Onedin is a poor young skipper in Liverpool who dreams of starting his own shipping business and breaking free from his powerful boss. In order to acquire his first ship, Charlotte Rhodes, he marries Anne the daughter of the ship owner and the adventure begins…

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Sonya Rostova is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy’s 1869 novel War and Peace. She is the orphaned niece of Count and Countess Rostov and, as a result, she is living with the Rostov family. She and her cousin Natasha share a very special bond and they are inseparable. At the start of the novel, 15-year-old Sonya is in love with her cousin, Nikolai Rostov, who initially reciprocates her feelings. Sonya has no dowry and Nikolai’s mother opposes the match. However, she and Nikolai swear eternal love before he leaves to fight in the war.

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