A 152-minute fever dream where Russian poetry becomes theater — and theater becomes haunting memory.
A television play based on the life and works of Russian poet Alexander Blok performed by the cast of Moscow's Mossovet Theatre.
Acting
Taratorkin doesn't play Blok — he channels him through decades of stage mastery.
Direction
Spesivtsev collapses theater and cinema until you forget which you're watching.
Production
Mossovet Theatre's entire ensemble performing like their lives depend on it.
Director
Vyacheslav Spesivtsev
Georgi Taratorkin
Alexander Blok
Vyacheslav Butenko
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Anatoli Adoskin
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Nelli Pshyonnaya
The Unknown Woman
Olimpiada Kalmykova
Mother
Natalya Tenyakova
Lyubov Mendeleyeva
Irina Kartashyova
Zinaida Gippius
Igor Starygin
Andrei Bely
Galina Dashevskaya
Olga
Vladimir Shurupov
Old Regime Figure
Tatyana Bestayeva
Young Lady from Nevsky
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Georgi Taratorkin had played Blok on stage for over a decade before this film; the role was essentially his second skin by 1980.
Blok's 'The Twelve' and 'The Unknown Woman' were once household poems in Soviet Russia — this film arrived as that cultural memory was fading, making it almost archaeological.
SU
