Customer Reviews

Crime & Punishment - The Complete Miniseries

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have just finished watching this brilliant adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'Crime & Punishment'. The three episodes last seventy-five minutes each, a total of just under four hours. In my opinion, the first episode is the best, but I enjoyed the entire DVD immensely. I do not know how faithful it is to the book as I have never read it, but I certainly shall now.

The wonderful Jack Pulman adapted this for BBC TV in 1979, shortly before his death. Again he manages to produce an impeccable script, full of both drama and humour. Interestingly, as with so many of his works, his wife Barbara Young makes an appearance as the eccentric Amalia Ivanovna - or at least that is what she calls herself.

The cast is outstanding and features many well known and hugely talented players. The amazing John Hurt is simply riveting as the tortured Raskolnikov. Sian Phillips and Frank Middlemass are both very moving and Timothy West is masterfully subtle and understated. Other standouts include David Troughton and Beatrix Lehmann as the Pawnbroker. In fact, the only member of the cast who was not particularly good was Yolande Palfrey as Sonia, but even she was acceptable.

The sets and locations are very authentic and there are some unforgettable scenes. The story is dark and bleak, but enthralling, thought-provoking and simply fascinating.

All in all an excellent production - one to keep beside 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' (BBC TV 1979), 'Anna Karenina' (BBC TV 1977) and 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' (BBC TV 1978).

But why on earth is there a picture of Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul in 'Pride and Prejudice' (BBC TV 1979) on the back cover? I am surprised that no previous reviewer has commented on this.

Read the book -- but this _is_ a superb miniseries. John Hurt is a little older than is ideal for the role of the student Raskolnikov, but otherwise is a fantastic choice for the part. The story is absorbing and thought-provoking, and, at least in the marvelous scene in which Raskolnikov taunts a police inspector --- funny!

Crime and Punishment was preceded by an adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Possessed. I hope that will become available.

Superb acting and script. Recent adaptations seem afraid to include original dialogue at any length- this gave us so much that was gripping and character-revealing. I wish all past BBC miniseries were available. Brilliant!

Here we have a very excellent mini-series, all-inclusive, three episodes on one DVD (225 minutes total running time), of Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment". This movie is simply terrific and, by having twice read the book (two different translations), I can say that this film is totally true to its origin, with just a few of the less notable scenes omitted which is what one would reasonably expect.

Now, the reason for my cautionary title is that "Crime and Punishment" is a story about the extreme misery of the Russian people, and to put this theme into historical perspective, it transpires during the era in which the U.S. Civil War was just reaching a conclusion. To summarize the Russian social environment of that same period, serfdom had just been reluctantly abolished (1863) but it actually continued on in pocket regions for a time. And times for the masses were incredibly difficult in the larger Russian cities such as St. Petersburg which is where this story mostly transpires. Large portions of the population were starving, alcoholism was rampant, and revolution was in the air, (this finally came to a head in 1905 and, successfully for the Bolsheviks [Communists] in 1917 but those two events are not directly a facet of this particular story.)

So what I'm telling you is that this tale is mostly one of extreme misery and is largely responsible for the egregious myth that ALL Russian literature is equally gloomy, (a myth which can be immediately dispelled by reading The Inspector-General, Dead Souls: A Novel, Oblomov, etc.) But "Crime and Punishment" is pretty depressing which is actually why it's such a great life story. So if you cannot endure such films, you'd best skip this one because in addition to all the gloom, this mini-series is quite lengthy so there's a lot of it!

THE STORY: Briefly, Raskolnikov is a rather contumacious, off-and-on Russian student who faces multiple problems: his personal ethics are grossly distorted; he has no money, and; he is emotionally and physically ill.

Almost at once, while raising a few kopecks by way of pawning some personal trinkets, he has an encounter with a spiteful and venomous old woman, the local pawnbroker who continually takes an abhorrently unfair advantage of everyone with whom she does business. This dreadful old hag also has a half-sister living with her, a girl of very limited intelligence whom she psychologically abuses.

It's no spoiler to say that, based upon his personal philosophies about the value of various people's lives, Raskolnikov murders the old woman with a hatchet to the forehead. But unfortunately the half-sister makes an unexpected appearance during the murder and he makes the hasty decision to kill her as well, an actuality which begins to haunt him from the moment he commits the act.

The entire remainder of the story is based upon this horrific act of violence, albeit there are some sub-plots, all of which heap even more burdensome stresses upon Raskolnikov. One of these side trips involves an older man by the name of Marmeladov. This venerable fellow would be a fine man were it not for his extreme and endless drunkenness which has resulted in the ruination of his entire family. In fact, his alcoholism has driven his own daughter to become a prostitute, a blameless girl with whom Raskolnikov falls in love.

Finally, the highlight of the story involves the local police inspector, a man by the name of Porfiry, who epitomizes the "Columbo" of the Russian police! His mild and indirect (but irritating) manner of interrogation drives Raskolnikov to extreme emotional reactions and Porfiry's character adds as much to the film as it does to Raskolnikov's mental burden. It's just short of comic relief.

I will have to stop at this point to avoid any major spoilers but, rest assured, this is a complex tale which is well-told via this marvelous mini-series. John Hurt plays Raskonikov and he's perfect in this role. The film is in color, the scenes and sets are nothing short of excellent, and the aspect ratio is full-frame. This last feature is the only item I'm curious about -- the packaging states "full-screen version" which conveys to me that there might actually exist a widescreen version, which I would very much love to view! The mini-series was directed by Michael Darlow and, of course, this is a BBC Production so all the actors are British and thus one should not expect to hear Russian accents.

Highly recommended for appropriate audiences.

(See my numerous Amazon Listmania lists for more Russian film and literature recommendations.)

Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote a masterpiece when he published Crime and Punishment. The book demonstrates an incredible understanding of human nature.

Crime and Punishment surfaces the mental anguish and moral dilema of a highly intelligent man by the name of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov. He is poor, a former student living in St. Petersburg, who, in search for a change of luck, develops a plan to kill a usurous pawnbroker who is hated by the whole town.

He expects to change his luck by obtaining the great fortune she has been accumulating under her bed from the pain and troubles of those who had no choice but to pawn their possessions.

The book details conflicting human emotions of pride, hatred, envy, shame, guilt and redemption. The plot is set in 19th-century Russia and the characters for the most part are from the working class.

We took the opportunity to see the series with young adults and we were delighted to see how they learned from understanding the consequences of actions that can and will change the lives of those who execute something as horrible as murder.

I recalled watching the final episode of this compelling screenplay when it first aired on PBS some thirty years ago and was disappointed to see that it hasn't been released as a DVD while VHS versions are commanding collector's prices. So I'm glad to have the option to rent the series from Amazon at a very reasonable price. The quality is excellent as is the ease of watching because it bookmarks wherever I pause and resumes on cue even after shutting down for extended periods. As for the performance, well there are few available to which to compare it so I would be grateful if someone knows and reports on a superior version of this literary classic. John Hurt as Raskolnikov is convincing but Timothy West's portrayal of Porfiry Petrovitch is the undisputable highlight and worth the price of admission. Since all of their dialogue takes place in the final episode one may begin there before deciding whether to rent the others.
I bought a Russian version available on DVD thanks to some favorable reviews that promised it was the ultimate but while the atmosphere of the black and white is effective as is the Russian soundtrack with subtitles, its treatment of the interplay between the principle characters leaves much to be desired compared to the BBC/PBS version.

How very disappointing!

My boyfriend and I were VERY excited to get this DVD. We both read the book - he did a long time before I did - and we were looking forward to see the mini-serie.

It was great to see the characters, and see the similarities or differences they had with those that our own imagination had made up. For example, yes John Hurt was a little too old or looked too old to play Raskolnikov, and I had imagined him to be a little more charismatic than that (sorry for the John Hurt fans)... He was a good actor though. He delivered a great performance, and he does look conflicted like I figured Raskolnikov would have been. I didn't especially like the actress that played Sonya, and at times it seemed that she was just plain "bad", especially in one scene where Raskolnikov went to see her at her place, but her voice was as soft as I imagined Sonya's to be. Porfiry was close to how I imagined him though! And Razhumikin(darn Russian names, I'm not sure about the spelling and I don't have the book with me) was close too.

The ONLY AND ULTIMATE thing that spoiled the experience was the ENDING. How dare they! I'm sure Dostoevsky would have turned in his grave if he saw that. It just ruins the whole story. One of the best parts in the book was the ending, when he went down the stairs at the station, and out, and saw Sonya, smiled and went back. It's NOT in the DVD! NOT! And Sonya does not go in with him at the station in the book. And he does not go to see Porphyre(Porfiry in English), but Ilia Petrovitch. It makes a big difference to me anyway. There's also the part where Svidrigailov kills himself... that lasted all but 5 seconds! It was also one of the most "poignant" parts of the book. "Tell them I'm going to America"... Would it have been that hard to include it? Also where was the gun when Dunya went to see Svidrigailov... Those part are a bit disappointing (the ending is EXTREMELY disappointing), but overall it was still a good adaptation of the book. There's so much philosophy going on in the book which you can't easily include in a movie, but I think they did a good job. Just the ending would justify giving that movie ONE star, but I'll be honest, I loved watching it up to the end.

Frank Middlemass as Marmeladov gives the definitive screen performance of alcoholism in full flower. You may remember Frank in Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON as the snobbish Lord Lyndon who dies of apoplexity at cards while trying to swallow his pills and then Barry marries Lady Lyndon. Middlemass was the definitive snob in that picture. I've only seen the first third of C&P so far but find the show well-done and worthy of the novel. The sense of CRIME comes across hugely, with PUNISHMENT as an immediate aspect of committing the crime, at least in Raskolnikov's case.

Crime and P. is perhaps our earliest and most elaborate interior novel, equal to James Joyce's Ulysses in this way, and written under equally incredibly severe conditions. Through it we enter the mind, heart and soul of a very complex and idealistic and intelligent and sensitive individual and share his every thought and understand his every desire and impulse.

Thus, all is wrong in this BBC production. Physically Hurt looks far too old to play an idealistic and inexperienced university student, and appears like he would rather be playing K. in a remake of the Trial. Due to the lack of a narrative voice-over and the lack of a voice-over of his inner thoughts, he is left to walk around the exterior sets showing off his cute wardrobe and frowning, or to inhabit the rather barren and stagey interior sets, very artificially theatrically lit and adorned and posed with extras artificially chortling or philosophizing on cue. Hurt's various frowns and squints and tightenings without voice-over leave us wondering how much he actually is suffering from fever, or hemorrhoids, or merely acute near sightedness. We are unable to hear his thoughts and thus follow his actions and reactions, whereas the novel fully informs us from the first sentence. Here, stripped to merely the physically visible, we find his actions inexplicable, impulsive and unconvincing, especially coming from such an apparently mature man.

Meanwhile, as Hurt frowns, we see various other actors with varying degrees of talent and direction chewing the scenery with emotion and force and exagerrated make up and lighting and costuming, as if to make up for Hurt's reticence. All in all, the severe production limitations placed upon Hurt leaves his character's actions superficial and arbitrary at best, and do not carry the great moral and philosophical weight laid out in the novel. None of the actors are permitted to convince us, and the amateur BBC sets leave us even less convinced. The exteriors are picturesque romps only.

Bottom line: find an authoritative translation of the novel and learn to read again. Arm yourself with solid commentaries as much as able. But leave this production for another day. For the same price you can get a great copy of the book. This book is too good to be so abused and lightened.

The translation used for dialogue seems stilted and hollow. "God frowns upon the deliberate taking of any life" sounds a lot more petty and shallow than intended; the profoundly crucial import of those words are horribly cheapened in that translation. This complex book explores many avenues very well, with that brief phrase the central moral. We agonize that what we need to hear everywhere from Iraq to New Orleans is so superficially presented here in the manner of uncomprehending sentimentalist dilettantes.

I just finished re-reading the book; it is a masterpiece. I wish I could say the same for the BBC series. For one, the musical score is either absent or irritating. So much of what is compeling in the book goes on inside of the Characters. How about voice-overs or something else (music?)? Let the audience in on the torment and conflict of Raskolnikov (the main character) and interplay of the characters that is so powerful in the book. What I saw was an acceptable theatrical production on film. I've written much more but it's unfortunately been truncated. Simply read the book instead or view this and know that this pales before the book. This is a dreary protrayal.