The Idiot (TV series)
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The Idiot (ИДІОТЪ) is a costume drama TV series produced by Telekanal "Rossiya" in 2003 based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel with the same title.
The series was branded by the novel's original pre-1920's orthography title "идіотъ" (in all caps) instead of the current "идиот" as one will find it on the bookshelves in Russia (to promote the atmosphere of the tsarist time when the film's plot takes place). This branded title "ИДІОТЪ" can be seen at the beginning of each part and on the cover of the DVD release.
The series consists of 10 sequels each approximately 50 minutes.
The series has a very good cast. Both, the actors suit the characters from the novel well by appearance, and, especially act with a grand finesse, bringing not only life, but more: credibility to the utterly complex characters of Dostoevsky's.
The DVD release has its flaws though: one would wish to have Russian subtitles as well accompanying the dialogue in Russian, but in vain. Also, the English subtitles are highly inconsistent; not only in the spelling of names, but also the quality of the translation changes between excellent to barely intellegible; also, there are a lot of typos in the subtitles.
[edit] Staff and Actors
| Vladimir Bortko (Владимир Бортко) | director |
| Valery Todorovsky (Валерий Тодоровский) | producer |
| Igor Kornelyuk (Игорь Корнелюк) | music |
| Actors | |
|---|---|
| Evgeny Mironov (Евгений Миронов) | prince Myshkin |
| Lidiya Velezheva (Лидия Вележева) | Nastasya Filipovna |
| Vladimir Mashkov (Владимир Машков) | Parfyon Rogozhin |
| Aleksandr Lazarev jun. (Александр Лазарев мл.) | Gavrilya Ardalionovich Ivolgin |
| Oleg Basilashvili (Олег Басилашвили) | general Ivan Yepanchin |
| Inna Churikova (Инна Чурикова) | Lizveta Prokof'yevna Yepanchina, general Yepanchin's wife |
| Ol'ga Budina (Ольга Будина) | Aglaya Ivanovna Yepanchina, their youngest daughter |
| Aleksandr Domogarov (Александр Домогаров) | Evgeny Pavlovich (Aglaya's suitor) |
| Aleksey Petrenko (Алексей Петренко) | general Ardalion Ivolgin, Ganya's father |
| Vladimir Il'in (Владимир Ильин) | Lebedev |
[edit] Trivia
On several occasions in the series one can observe "today's" Russian flag, the white-blue-red tricolour. This, however is the director's mistake: Dostoevsky himself died in 1881, and the novel plays consequently earlier (written 1869). While this flag was already used in tsarist Russia, it was admitted for use on land in 1883 only (previously used on sea), and became official flag of the empire in 1896 only. Thus, correctly, the black-gold-silver tsarist flag should have been used in the film.
