Shakespeare's 17th century masterpiece about the "Melancholy Dane" was given one of its best screen treatments by Soviet director Grigori Kozintsev. Kozintsev's Elsinore was a real castle in Estonia, utilized metaphorically as the "stone prison" of the mind wherein Hamlet must confine himself in order to avenge his father's death. Hamlet himself is portrayed (by Innokenti Smoktunovsky) as the sole sensitive intellectual in a world made up of debauchers and revellers. Several of Kozintsev directorial choices seem deliberately calculated to inflame the purists: Hamlet's delivers his "To be or not to be" soliloquy with his back to the camera, allowing the audience to fill in its own interpretations.

日瓦戈（汉斯·麦瑟逊 Hans Matheson 饰）自幼便失去了父母，被送往母亲生前的好友亚历山大（比尔·帕特森 Bill Paterson 饰）家，成为了家中的养子。长大之后，品行端正乐观开朗的日瓦戈迎娶了亚历山大的女儿冬妮娅（亚历山德拉·玛丽亚·拉那 Alexandra Maria Lara 饰）为妻，一家人过着平静而又幸福的生活。
随着动荡的政局不断收紧，第一次世界大战爆发了。动乱中，日瓦戈邂逅了美丽的女子娜拉（凯拉·奈特莉 Keira Knightley 饰），两人在纷飞的战火之中双双坠入了爱河。然而，他们最终还是面临着分离的命运。日瓦戈亦回到了妻子的身边。让他没有想到的是，在风景如画的乡间，日瓦戈再度遇见了娜拉，他再也无法压抑心中汹涌的感情。

1965 film directed by David Lean