After suffering artistically at the hands of Russian censors (his Asya's Happiness wound up being shelved for two decades for a variety of obscure political reasons), director Andrei Konchalovsky briefly played safe with a brace of elegiac literary adaptations. The first of these was A Nest of Gentlefolk, adapted from a Turgenev story. Put in the simplest possible terms, the film concerns a well-meaning landowner, his adulterous wife, and the woman that he loves. Loenid Kulagin, Irina Kupchenko and Beata Tyskiewicz are the actors comprising this angst-ridden triangle. Originally titled Dvoranskoye gnezdo, the film was also released in English-speaking countries as A Nest of Gentry and Nobiliary Nest. In his characteristic fashion, Konchalovsky handles his material in loving (if slightly mannered fashion). He followed Nest of Gentlefolk with a cinemazation of Checkov's Uncle Vanya (1970), then spent four inactive years before turning out his biggest pre-Hollywood financial success, The Romance of Lovers.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide