A teacher's ambition curdles into something far uglier than failure.
A small provincial town. The inhabitants are bored, apathetic and bitter... Peredonov, a modest high school teacher, dreams about a promotion and moving to the capital. Gradually his dream becomes an obsession. Varvara, his second cousin who dreams about marrying him, writes a promising letter about an invitation to Saint-Petersburg on behalf of the capital's princess. But the teacher's dreams aren't meant to come true: he becomes a victim of his own insanity and kills his friend and the hateful Varvara...
Acting
Taramaev's subtle transformation from pathetic to terrifying.
Direction
Dostal's suffocating atmosphere mirrors the protagonist's rot.
Writing
Faithful adaptation of Sologub's vicious psychological portrait.
Director
Nikolay Dostal
Sergey Taramaev
Peredonov
Irina Rozanova
Varvara
Polina Kutepova
Lyudmila
Sergey Batalov
Volodin
Aleksei Mironov
Khripach
Gennadiy Nazarov
Rutilov
Agrippina Steklova
Daria
Kseniya Kutepova
Valeriya
Elena Mayorova
Vershina
Tatyana Kravchenko
Yershikha
Galina Stakhanova
Kokovkina
Nikolai Averyushkin
Doctor
Roman Madyanov
Cherepnin
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Adapted from Fyodor Sologub's 1907 novel 'The Petty Demon,' a cornerstone of Russian Symbolism that was banned in the Soviet era for its unflinching cynicism.
Director Nikolay Dostal spent years securing rights; the film's low budget forced creative solutions like using real provincial locations that hadn't changed since Sologub's time.
RU
