Nineteen Eighty-Four is a movie.
Nineteen Eighty-Four , often published as 1984 , is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell . As literary political fiction and dystopian science-fiction , Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic novel in content , plot and style . In 2005 , the novel was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005 . Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984 film) . Starring John Hurt , Richard Burton ( in his last cinematic role ) , Suzanna Hamilton , and Cyril Cusack , the film follows the life of Winston Smith in Oceania , a country run by a totalitarian government .