Louis Malle's swan-song, while perhaps not his most noteworthy work, happens to contain a priceless amount of cultural significance, a romantic document of the ultimate theatrical experience.

| Nov 19, 2020

The alchemy of Gregory's staging and Malle's direction turn what could have been an exercise in canned theater into something very nearly sublime.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 14, 2015

A deeply moving, inspirational secular-sacred experience both for its beautiful embodiment of Chekhov's story of unmoored souls and for the beauty of the greatest collaborative art form, practiced with pure joy and for love. [Blu-ray]

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 3, 2015

... a record of a creative collaboration that has a life of its own, at once documentary, filmed rehearsal, play within a play, and private production restaged for a camera...

| Mar 10, 2012

Reuniting with Andrew Gregory, Louis Malle, in what became his swan song, has made a modern, captivation version of the Chekhov play.

| Original Score: B+ | May 7, 2011

It's amazing it has taken Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, and director Louis Malle more than 10 years to collaborate again. It was worth the wait, though.

| Original Score: A | Jul 6, 2010

The drawback, however, is that the actors chew the scenery in true stagecraft fashion, which, on film, induces regular wincing and a wish that they would hand out the valium and take it easy.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 12, 2008

Not entirely successful, but undeniably brave.

| Aug 12, 2008

There are moments of considerable power here but this stripped-down rendering gives us something closer to a latterday dysfunctional family than Chekhov's doomed bourgeoisie.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 12, 2008

The performances are precise, the language is alive and well spoken and the setting is striking, but Vanya on 42nd Street still suffers rather heavily from the limitations of filmed theater.

Full Review | Aug 12, 2008

Malle adeptly eases us into the play so we can't tell at what precise moment Chekhov takes over, an ambiguity that becomes the film's triumph as well as its key limitation.

| Aug 12, 2008

It offers a unique viewing at a work in progress.

| Original Score: A- | Nov 6, 2007

There's more power here than in all the multi-million dollar fireworks of Hollywood.

| Jan 26, 2006

A movie by, about and for actors.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 10, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 16, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2004

Despite great acting, the general impression of the film is underwhelming.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 22, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | May 20, 2003

The elegant understatement of this production turns it into a livelier experiment, a fluent, gripping version of one of Chekhov's more elusive plays.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 20, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2002