Vladimir GARDIN
Владимир ГАРДИН
Vladimir GARDINE
Russia, 1914, 30mn 
Black and white, silent, fiction
The Kreutzer Sonata
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Крейцерова Соната

 

 La Sonate à Kreutzer

 Kreïtserova Sonata

 
Directed by : Vladimir GARDIN (Владимир ГАРДИН)
Based on Tolstoy's novel of the same name
 
Cast
Boris ORSKY (Борис ОРСКИЙ) ...Poznychev
Lidia SYCHEVA (Лидия СЫЧЕВА) ...sa mère
Mikhail TAMAROV (Михаил ТАМАРОВ) ...Tolstoï
Yelizaveta_2 UVAROVA (Елизавета_2 УВАРОВА) ...sa femme
 
Cinematography : Aleksandr LEVITSKY (Александр ЛЕВИЦКИЙ)
Production design : Boris MIKHIN (Борис МИХИН)
Produced by : Paul TIMAN (Пауль ТИМАН)
Production : Série de la Russie d'or («Русская Золотая серия»)
Release date in Russia : 03/11/1914
 

DVD with subtitles
Editor : Bach Films.
C'est le bonus du DVD de La Maison de la rue Troubnaia dans l'édition de Bachfilms.

Plot synopsis
Summary of the novel :
During a train ride, Pozdnyshev overhears a conversation concerning marriage, divorce and love. When a woman argues that marriage should not be arranged but based on true love, he asks "what is love?" and points out that, if understood as an exclusive preference for one person, it often passes quickly. Convention dictates that two married people stay together, and initial love can quickly turn into hatred. He then relates how he used to visit prostitutes when he was young, and complains that women's dresses are designed to arouse men's desires. He further states that women will never enjoy equal rights to men as long as men view them as objects of desire, but yet describes their situation as a form of power over men, mentioning how much of society is geared towards their pleasure and well-being and how much sway they have over men's actions. After meeting and marrying his wife, periods of passionate love and vicious fights alternate. She bears several children, and then receives contraceptives: "The last excuse for our swinish life -- children -- was then taken away, and life became viler than ever." His wife takes a liking to a violinist, and the two perform Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata (Sonata No. 9 in A Major for piano and violin, Op. 47) together. Pozdnyshev complains that some music is powerful enough to change one's internal state to a foreign one. He hides his raging jealousy and goes on a trip, returns early, finds the two together and kills his wife with a dagger. The violinist escapes: "I wanted to run after him, but remembered that it is ridiculous to run after one's wife's lover in one's socks; and I did not wish to be ridiculous but terrible." Later acquitted of murder in light of his wife's apparent adultery, Pozdnyshev rides the trains seeking forgiveness from fellow passengers.
Source : en.wikipedia.org
 

Commentaries
Киностудии дореволюционной России [Studios d'avant la Révolution russe], Анастасия ВОЙКО, culture.ru, 2015
 

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Talents soviétiques - Collection Arkeion, Paris (France), 2019