Anastasia is a 1956 historical drama film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes. The screenplay written by Arthur Laurents is adapted from a 1952 play of the same title by French dramatist Marcelle Maurette, which is in turn inspired by the story of Anna Anderson, the best known of the many Anastasia impostors who emerged after the Imperial family were murdered in July 1918.
Set in interwar France, the film follows a plot related to rumors that the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of the late Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, survived the execution of her family in 1918. Russian General Bounine (Brynner), former leader of the White Army during the Russian Revolution, along with his associates plot to swindle an inheritance of £10 million from the Grand Duchess using an amnesiac (Bergman) who looks remarkably like the missing Anastasia. The exiled émigrés of the Russian aristocracy, in particular the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna (Hayes), must be convinced that their handpicked claimant is legitimate if the plotters are to get her money.
The film represented a Hollywood comeback for its star Ingrid Bergman, after several years working exclusively in Europe following her much-publicized affair with Roberto Rossellini. In February 1920 she was institutionalized in a Berlin mental hospital after a suicide attempt. She initially refused to identify herself, later going by "Anna Tchaikowsky". Over the next few years, the woman was identified by several White Russian émigrés as Anastasia. She lived with a succession of émigrés and exiled White Russian nobles, with varying degrees of belief or skepticism in her identity as Anastasia.
While the play and film depict Tsarina Maria Feodorovna as privately accepting Anna's legitimacy, the actual Tsarina publicly denounced the Anderson as an imposter in 1928. Knebworth House was used to represent the Empress Marie's palace.
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 61 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Mae Tinee of the Chicago Tribune called the film "Beautifully balanced with history and fantasy woven into a background of searing sorrow and royal pomp, this is one of the year's most enjoyable films. It is presented with wit, warmth, delicacy, and skill."
Many critics emphasized the film's status as Ingrid Bergman's comeback vehicle. Jean Yothers of the Orlando Sentinel wrote "After an absence of seven years from American-made films, beauteous Ingrid Bergman returns triumphantly." Moira Walsh of America wrote "Given a chance, Miss Bergman looks as lovely as ever and gives an effective high-tension performance."
Some critics believed the film was bound too much to the static settings and theatrical "scenes" of the play, but additional, essentially decorative, ball scenes were added to open up the action.
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
|-
| rowspan="2" | Academy Awards
| Best Actress
| Ingrid Bergman
|
|-
| Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
| Alfred Newman
|
|-
| British Academy Film Awards
| Best Screenplay
| Arthur Laurents
|
|-
| David di Donatello Awards
| Best Foreign Actress
| rowspan="2" | Ingrid Bergman
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Golden Globe Awards
| rowspan="2" | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
|
|-
| Helen Hayes
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | National Board of Review Awards
| colspan="2" | Top Ten Films
|
|-
| Best Actor
| rowspan="2" | Yul Brynner <small>(also for The King and I and The Ten Commandments)</small>
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | New York Film Critics Circle Awards
| Best Actor
|
|-
| Best Actress
| Ingrid Bergman
|
|-
| Photoplay Awards
| Most Popular Male Star
| Yul Brynner
|
|}
Twin film
A West German film based on Anna Anderson, The Story of Anastasia (German: Anastasia, die letzte Zarentochter) was released the same year. Both films star Ivan Desny. (see: twin films)
See also
- List of American films of 1956
- The Story of Anastasia
- Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna
- Anastasia (1997 film)
- Romanov impostors