Russian bureaucratic nightmares through the ages, served with absurdist glee.
The bureaucratic epos on the dialogues and plots of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin "The History of a Town". In a metaphorical and grotesque form, the film conveys the history of Russia from the calling of the Varangians until the end of the 20th century. The film traces the change of the “chiefs” of the county town of Glupov, which differ in varying degrees of tyranny and the corresponding total number of “killed” city residents. The heads of the city easily guess the former heads of the Russian state and the USSR.
Acting
Rolan Bykov's Ferdyshchenko — grotesque, pathetic, unforgettable.
Production
Deliberately artificial sets that scream theatrical metaphor.
Director
Sergey Ovcharov
Natalya Gundareva
Clémentine de Bourbon
Svetlana Kryuchkova
Amalia Stockfisch
Yelena Sanayeva
Iraida Paleologova
Margarita Terekhova
Anelka Lyadokhovskaya
Rolan Bykov
Pyotr Petrovich Ferdyshchenko
Yuri Demich
Ugryum-Burcheyev
Leonid Kuravlyov
Vasilisk Borodavkin
Rodion Nahapetov
Erast Grustilov
Oleg Tabakov
Dementiy Brudastyy-Organchik
Olga Pashkova
Alyona Osipova
Oleg Stefan
Dmitriy Prokofyev
Mikhail Pakhomenko
Yevseich
Vladimir Kashpur
Baibakov
Vera Glagoleva
Pfeifersha
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Saltykov-Shchedrin's 1870 novel was banned under Stalin; Ovcharov's 1989 adaptation arrived as glasnost collapsed the USSR, making its satire dangerously immediate.
Margarita Terekhova, playing the manipulative Anelka, was fresh off Tarkovsky's 'Mirror' — quite the tonal whiplash for Soviet art house devotees.
SU
