Set in a private bungalow-colony in New York’s Hudson Valley where a group of friends has holed up during the pandemic, the book, which includes a backyard performance of “Uncle Vanya,” is Chekhovian in its essential framework. Gary Shteyngart recognizes this connection in his recent novel “Our Country Friends,” which takes place just as COVID-19 is sweeping the world. Surviving disillusionment without succumbing to despair, persevering after dreams have been shattered, finding the will to keep going when all that appears ahead is a succession of monotonous days - “Uncle Vanya,” now that I think of it, may be the perfect play for our pandemic-scarred moment. The play is a study in learning to bear failure and futility, if not for oneself then for those loved ones, like lonely Sonya, who has enough sorrow without the addition of her uncle’s suicide. His anger, once farcically discharged, turns inward and his thoughts are set on death. Rejected as a lover by Elena and enraged when Serebryakov announces that he wants to put the estate up for sale, Vanya feels that he has wasted his life. Vanya falls under Elena’s spell, as does Astrov, the doctor with a passion for both environmentalism and vodka whom Sonya unrequitedly loves. A crotchety retired professor, Serebryakov has returned with Elena, his stunningly beautiful and much younger second wife, throwing the household’s dull routine into chaos. Vanya, a middle-aged manager of his family’s country estate, and Sonya, his unmarried niece, have sacrificed themselves for the sake of Serebryakov, Sonya’s father, who was married to Vanya’s beloved dead sister. “Uncle Vanya” has been described as Chekhov’s most spiritual work. Together they enact offstage the meaning of Chekhov’s play. We observe a haunted Kafuku conducing rehearsals we listen along as he replays his ghostly “Vanya” tape in the car to and from the theater and we watch him reluctantly open up to his young female driver, who also happens to be drowning in complicated grief.

Hamaguchi directs with exemplary restraint. Revisiting Chekhov in Hiroshima slowly brings him back to life. Kafuku, a shell of his former self, has performed the role of Vanya before and learned his lines through a tape his wife prepared of the script. He’s been invited to direct “Uncle Vanya” in Hiroshima, a city resurrected from ashes. The protagonist, Kafuku, is a middle-aged actor mourning the death of his unfaithful wife. Co-written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, the movie (streaming on HBO Max) is adapted from Haruki Murakami’s story of the same title from his collection “Men Without Women.” Chekhov’s play figures prominently and gives the film its soul. I doubted after that revival that I would ever again have such an emotionally intense experience of “Uncle Vanya,” but then I saw “Drive My Car,” this year’s Oscar winner for international feature film.

Chekhov plays