A prince too pure for this world crashes into Russian high society like a saint in a snake pit.
Muichkine, a young Russian prince, returns home to St. Petersburg from a mental institution, determined to spread decency and kindness in the harsh and cruel world. He becomes betrothed to an innocent young girl while trying to save a less-innocent woman from her own travail, but jealousy and his own naivete conjoin to bring about unimaginable tragedy.
Acting
Philipe's trembling saintliness against Feuillère's volcanic despair.
Costume
Lavish 19th-century aristocratic decay captured in silks and shadows.
Director
Georges Lampin
Gérard Philipe
Prince Miouchkine
Edwige Feuillère
Nastasia Philipovna
Lucien Coëdel
Rogogine
Sylvie
Madame Ivolvine
Jean Debucourt
Totsky
Nathalie Nattier
Aglaé Epantchine
Jane Marken
Naria
Marguerite Moreno
General Elisabeth Prokovievna Epanchine
Michel André
Gania Ivolvine
Elisabeth Hardy
Sophie Ivolvine
Roland Armontel
Luliane Timofeevich Lebediev, the drunkard
Mathilde Casadesus
Adélaïde Epantchine
Tramel
Ivolvine
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Dostoevsky's novel was originally split into two films, but Part 2 was never made due to poor box office.
This was one of the first major Western adaptations of Dostoevsky after WWII, when existential dread was très chic.
FR
