This film is a terrible and unbearable insult to everything Russian: the people, life, history, culture, art, memory ... Lies, lies and only lies - nothing more. One gets the feeling that the director set himself the task of humiliating the Russians as much as possible, well, if so, he succeeded brilliantly. If you want to see the real Modest Mussorgsky with his truth, with the truth of Alexander Pushkin, then you should watch the 1954 opera film by Vera Stroeva with true costumes and scenery, with excellent acting, and most importantly, without directorial gag.
Plot summary
The film is based on the musical recording of the famous opera by Modest Mussorgsky about the tragic events surrounding the ruling of the Russian tsar Boris in the early 17th century. The recording was actually made two years before the filming with the participation of the Washington Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich) and several opera stars (the part of Marina is sung by Galina Vishnevskaya). Zulawski made the film just as we would be watching the theatrical performance. Then we are going through the sets and, finally, we notice the film crew. The director deliberately filled the picture with a plenty of anachronisms making the implications on the Soviet history and the other dictatorships of the 20th century.
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Terrible and unbearable insult
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best opera-inspired film ever seen
This is the best opera-inspired film I have ever seen. It's not what we frequently see: a filming of a theater performance. This is a masterpiece of its own, with the force and drama of Mussorgsky's music, but added with the insight of a professional film-maker. You will see wonderful scenes and color, with some artistic freedom to achieve cinematographic characters that really makes you understand the inner drama of a complex and appealing historic personage.
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Stands aside other deranged Zulawski classics.
I am not an opera buff, and also not a big fan of opera movies, but this film managed to leave my jaw on the floor through most of the running time without me knowing exactly why. Simply put, this is business as usual for fans of Andrzej Zulawski, and is made in his signature in your face fashion. In fact this will probably aggravate a lot of opera purists because it openly breaks all the rules of opera movies, and includes copious nudity, violence, and some crazy performances. One scene has a character singing an aria whilst strolling through the woods, suddenly he walks into a tree, but the singing continues. There are two sex scenes that involve singing throughout. Every so often we catch clear sight of the film crew shooting the action. Visually it slightly resembles Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible part 2 (which also involves grotesquely stylised Boyars),but it also shares quite a few similarities with the director's own 'On the Silver Globe', which also has large set pieces involving crowds of outlandishly costumed people undulating in mass hysteria. This would actually make a great double bill with the anthology film 'Aria', that also marries passionate and intense visuals to soaring and emotional opera music. I really don't understand why this has been out of distribution for so long, but Zulawski's films are so in your face, so far removed from 'normal' filmmaking, that pairing this sensibility with a famous and well loved opera is not going to tick many mainstream boxes. If you like intense, extreme cinema, then check this out.