St. Petersburg, mid 19th century: the indolent, middle-aged Oblomov lives in a flat with his older servant, Zakhar. He sleeps much of the day, dreaming of his childhood on his parents' estate. His boyhood companion, Stoltz, now an energetic and successful businessman, adds Oblomov to his circle whenever he's in the city, and Oblomov's life changes when Stoltz introduces him to Olga, lovely and cultured. When Stoltz leaves for several months, Oblomov takes a country house near Olga's, and she determines to change him: to turn him into a man of society, action, and culture. Soon, Olga and Oblomov are in love; but where, in the triangle, does that leave Stoltz?
Acting
Oleg Tabakov's physical comedy of doing absolutely nothing
Cinematography
Golden-hour nostalgia that makes laziness look gorgeous
Direction
Mikhalkov's loving tribute to a novel about doing nothing
Director
Nikita Mikhalkov
Oleg Tabakov
Ilya Ilyich Oblomov
Yuri Bogatyryov
Andrei Ivanovich Stoltz
Andrei Popov
Zakhar
Yelena Solovey
Olga
Avangard Leontyev
Alekseev
Andrei Razumovsky
Ilya as a child
Galina Shostko
Olga's aunt
Gleb Strizhenov
baron
Evgeniy Steblov
Oblomov's father
Evgeniya Glushenko
Oblomov's mother
Nikolai Pastukhov
Stoltz's father
Oleg Basilashvili
episode
Ruslan Akhmetov
episode
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Oblomov gave Russian language the word 'Oblomovshchina'—the disease of doing nothing. It's an insult AND aspiration.
Mikhalkov staged the famous 'getting out of bed' scene as a 20-minute set piece; Goncharov's novel spends 50 pages on it.
SU
