The Idiot (TV series)

The Idiot (Russian: Идиот) is a costume drama TV series of Vladimir Bortko produced by Telekanal Rossiya in 2003 and in United States on ABC in 2004, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1869 novel of the same title.[1]

The Idiot
GenreDrama
Written byVladimir Bortko
Directed byVladimir Bortko
Starring
ComposerIgor Kornelyuk
Country of originRussia
Original languageRussian
No. of series1
No. of episodes10
Production
ProducerValery Todorovsky
CinematographyDmitri Mass
Production companyStudio 2B2 Entertainment
Release
Original networkTelekanal Rossiya
ABC (United States)

The series' script is very close to Dostoevsky's original text, and the series features well-known Russian actors. According to bonus materials included on the DVD, in order to improve authenticity, serious efforts were made to capture the spirit of the time, through proper way of speaking, and through very careful selection of costumes for the actors to wear.

The series was branded by the novel's original pre-1920s 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 parts each approximately 50 minutes.

Cast
  • Evgeny Mironov — Prince Myshkin
  • Lidiya Velezheva — Nastasya Filippovna
  • Vladimir Mashkov — Parfyon Rogozhin
  • Aleksandr Lazarev Jr. — Gavrilya Ardalionovich Ivolgin
  • Oleg Basilashvili — General Ivan Yepanchin
  • Inna Churikova —Elizaveta Prokofieevna Yepanchina, General Yepanchin's wife
  • Olga Budina — Aglaya Ivanovna Yepanchina, their youngest daughter
  • Aleksandr Domogarov — Evgeny Pavlovich (Aglaya's suitor)
  • Aleksey Petrenko — general Ardalion Ivolgin, Ganya's father
  • Vladimir Ilyin — Lebedev

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 is set earlier. (It was written in 1869.) While this flag was already used in tsarist Russia, it was admitted for use on land only in 1883 (previously used on sea) and became the official flag of the empire in 1896. Thus, the black-gold-silver tsarist flag should have been used in the film.

References
  1. Idiot, 2003-05-12, retrieved 2016-08-30


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