Nominated for ten Oscars (and winning a more than respectable five), this adaptation of Boris Pasternak's classic novel has all the sweep and stateliness that characterised David Lean's mastery of the epic. At its centre is the star-crossed romance between married physician and poet Omar Sharif and dressmaker's daughter Julie Christie, whose passionate encounters are played out against the backdrop of the Great War and the Russian Revolution. The scene is set superbly, thanks largely to John Box's brilliant designs for both the plush and the poverty-ridden quarters of Moscow, and to Freddie Young's atmospheric cinematography. Moreover, the ever-meticulous Lean retains the intimacy of the love story within the sweep of momentous historical events. Sharif excels in the lead, while Christie and Tom Courtenay (as her husband) bring a humanity to the tragedy that contrasts strikingly with the pitiless opportunism of Rod Steiger's villain.

The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.