The Idiot (4 DVD Set)
by Vladimir Bortko
Our Price: $29.99
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $21.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Director: Vladimir BortkoPrimary Contributor: Evgeny Mironov
Primary Contributor: Vladimir Mashkov
Primary Contributor: Oleg Basilashvili
Primary Contributor: Inna Churikova
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: Russian (Unknown); English (Subtitled)
Format: Box set, Color, Full Screen, Import, NTSC
Running Time: 500 unknown-units
Published: 2003
Studio: CP Digital
Movie Reviews of The Idiot (4 DVD Set)
Movie Review: Started with Mixed Feelings, Ended with Rave
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a big fan of The Idiot and approached this production with enthusiasm, but it's not giving me quite the pleasure I'd hoped for. Yes, the director is wonderfully faithful to the book, but by trying to include everything, he sometimes has to shave off 10 or 20% of everything, often losing material which makes a scene really comprehensible, or funny, or stinging. The early scenes between Myshkin and Ganya suffer from this cutting, so that you get a taste of Ganya's amazing petulance, contempt, and careless cruelty, but not the full flavor of it, which is riviting in the book. And despite what another reviewer has said, I find the production humorless--and this tragic story is often hilariously funny as written. It's wonderful to see really good actors in the roles. Inna Churikova's Mme Epanchin is so good she steals the show. But for all his efforts, Vladimir Ilyin playing Lebedev does not capture for me the astoundingness of that man. He seems too much a bag full of tics and tricks. Mirinov's Prince Myshkin is excellent in certain respects, but he becomes too dour, too constantly tormented, too enervated. (One exception is the magnificent charisma he exhibits when he tells the Epanchin women, on first meeting them, about his experiences Switzerland. Here I thought I was getting something that couldn't be had in the book.) Another reviewer mentions the perhaps forgivable weakness of the actress playing Nastasya Filipovna. For me this is a disastrous weakness. In no way is this actress up to this critical role. Katherine Zita-Jones would have done better. Finally, I agree with the complaints about the subtitles. Still, still... you get a great period production, one that takes the book seriously, that's intelligent, with substantial actors in even the smallest parts, a rare 8-hour production of a great novel, and the incomparable performance of Inna Churikova as Mme Epanchin.
As it turns out, I was listening to an audiobook of The Idiot narrated by Robert Whitfield at the same time that I was gradually working through this TV production. Whitfield has some problems with the female voices, especially Nastasya Filipovna, and the translation is Constance Garnet, which might not be the best, but this audio experience for me was more powerful.
Follow-up, after finishing all 4 DVDs:
The production is even better than I gave it credit for, and I've raised my rating from 4 stars to 5. Mironov shines as Prince Myshkin. I will never forget his amazing arrival at the party at the Epanchins. He is a great actor. Lebedev and, especially, Nastasya Filipovna remain unfortunate weaknesses, as is the lack of humor, but nothing is perfect. For those who are approaching "The Idiot" for the first time, I would agree that reading it first is a great advantage. Especially given the inadequacy of the subtitles. (The translation job seems to have been given to a high school student.) Also, I would suggest watching these DVDs with remote in hand. Despite my familiarity with the text, I hit the pause buttom repeatedly so that I would have time to read what the characters are saying. For, unlike most subtitles, these are not shaved down for quick apprehension. Pausing is a drag, but you get used to it. And the benefit is that you get the full quote rather than a shaved-down version.
Summary of The Idiot (4 DVD Set)
ENGLISH SUBTITLES. Directed by Vladimir Bortko Produced by Valery Todorovsky Music by Igor Kornelyuk Credited cast: Evgeny Mironov, Lidiya Velezheva, Vladimir Mashkov, Aleksandr Lazarev, Oleg Basilashvili, Inna Churikova, Olga Budina, Aleksandr Domogarov, Aleksey Petrenko, Vladimir Ilyin, Mikhail Boyarsky, Anastasiya Melnikova, Maria Kiseleva... Based on the novel of Fyodor Dostoevsky "The Idiot" Count Myshkin comes back to Russia from Switzerland where he was under care in psychiatric hospital. He meets Parfen Rogozhin on a train on his way to St.Petersburg. Rogozhin tells Myshkin about his passionate love for Nastasia Filippovna who used to be a kept-woman of millionaire Totsky. When the count gets to Petersburg, he comes to the house of his distant relative Epanchina who is a wife of a general. Myshkin meets Epanchina's husband, their daughters, and general's secretary Ganya Ivolgin. Nastasia Filippovna's portrait that was accidentally spotted by the count on the general's table creates a big impression on Myshkin... This incarnation of "The Idiot" is arguably the first which portrays Dostoyevsky's entire novel; earlier versions have focused on only the first part, or the main storyline. No effort was spared in reproducing period detail; several museums provided fabric and lace for the costumes.Similar DVD Movies
1612Koch International; Release date: 2009-04-07; DVD
Best price: $6.88
Price in other shops:
Ostrov (The Island), NTSC version with English subtitlesPublished: 2006; DVD
Best price: $10.36
Price in other shops:
Russian Stories: A Dual-Language BookDover Publications; Published: 1990-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.73
Price in other shops:
Prisoner of the MountainsMGM (Video & DVD); Release date: 2003-07-01; DVD
Best price: $6.87
Price in other shops:
Siberiade (Complete and Uncut Version)Kino International; Release date: 2007-01-09; DVD
Best price: $16.96
Price in other shops:
The Idiotby Fyodor Dostoevsky
Vintage; Published: 2003-07-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Moscow Does Not Believe in TearsKino International; Release date: 2004-02-24; DVD
Best price: $15.48
Price in other shops:
The Master and Margarita / Master i Margarita (3 DVD SET, ENGLISH SUBTITLES)CP Digital; Published: 2006; DVD
Best price: $31.04
War and PeaceKultur; Release date: 2002-10-29; DVD
Best price: $23.85
Price in other shops:
![Bratya Karamazovy / The Brothers Karamazov [DVD NTSC][ENGLISH SUBTITLES][2009] Image](/images/Bratya-Karamazovy-The-Brothers-Karamazov-DVD-NTSC-ENGLISH-SUBTITLES-2009-B002LC8LEC-X.jpg)
Bratya Karamazovy / The Brothers Karamazov [DVD NTSC][ENGLISH SUBTITLES][2009]Published: 2009; DVD
Best price: $34.48
Price in other shops: