The famous trilogy of the laureate of three Stalin Prizes , read by Konstantin Khudyakov, caused controversial reviews. “Walking through the agony” of 2017 is the third adaptation of the novel by Alexei Tolstoy. From the most famous, released in the seventies, the audience was delighted. The stars of Russian cinema - Yu. Solomin, I. Alferova, M. Kozakov, played in the television series. About the film “Walking through the agony” of 2017, there are more negative reviews.
About the victory of the red over white
“This is not Tolstoy!” - phrases such as this one appear in angry reviews of the 2017 Torment Walk series. So they say, of course, those who know: the film was shot according to a book created not by Lev Nikolaevich, but by a completely different writer. The author is a Soviet prose writer, a public figure who always knew how, unlike his brilliant namesake, to find a common language with official censorship, as evidenced by the aforementioned prizes and other state awards.
Reviews and reviews about “Going through the agony” were only positive. By the way, Alexey Tolstoy received the second Stalin Prize for this book. The first writer was awarded for "Peter I". The third was awarded him posthumously for Ivan the Terrible.
About the novel "Walking through the agony" reviews of contemporary critics are contradictory. The first part, “Sisters,” has high artistic merits. It was created during emigration, and therefore is imbued with a sense of nostalgia. The last book from the famous trilogy was written in the Soviet Union. It ends with an unambiguous image of the victory of the Reds over the whites.
Free reading
The authors of the negative reviews about the film “Going through the Pain” of 2017 especially did not like the free interpretation. The plot is changed. In actresses, it is difficult to recognize Katerina and Daria Bulavins - the main female images in Tolstoy's novel. A. Chipovskaya and Yu. Snigir could not convey the naivety, enthusiasm, purity of the heroines. According to reviews and reviews about the series “Walking through the agony” (2017), actresses for the main roles should have been chosen younger. In fairness, it is worth saying that not all viewers took Khudyakov’s film so negatively. According to individual reviewers, the cast is excellent.
The turning point in history
In the film, as in the book, the split of the country is shown. This split begins in the souls of people, in the emergence of dubious theories embedded in the mass consciousness. The worldview of the main characters is changing.
The First World War begins. The carefree existence of the Bulavin sisters is a thing of the past. They face a severe test, as well as millions of other Russian people. According to reviews of the series “Walking through the agony”, the main drawback of the film is the lack of dynamic narration. The plot is very crumpled. Revolutionary events are shown sparingly. And of course, the scriptwriters added a lot of what is not at all in the novel by Alexei Tolstoy.
At the same time, viewers note: the creators of the series managed to convey the atmosphere of wartime. Costumes, sets, battle scenes - all this is set well. Although the negative reviews about "Walking through the agony" also speaks of the shortcomings of mass scenes.
Walking through the agony (2017): reviews from critics
It is worth saying a few words to justify the scriptwriter and director. The filmmakers warned: this is not an adaptation, the film was shot based on the novel by Tolstoy. And therefore, a free reading is quite acceptable. Although there are too many discrepancies with the literary source. Elena Rayskaya, who wrote the script for the film Khudyakova, delicately approached the interpretation of the Soviet classic. This is what critics think. At the same time, the 2017 series is compared with the Soviet film version, which was released in the seventies.
The modern film is not inferior to the film of Vasily Ordynsky. Representatives of the younger generation will perceive it much better than the Soviet film. For forty years, cinema has changed a lot. New artistic methods have appeared, the pace of the development of the plot today, filmmakers use more rapid. Everything is very modern in Khudyakov’s film. Temperamental, energetic. The content of one series corresponds to the content of two episodes of a film created forty years ago.
The film for the modern viewer
To compare the 1977 film with the version of Khudyakov is a thankless task. Thirteen episodes of the Horde film today are not mastered by everyone. The modern viewer is accustomed to dynamics, swiftness in the plot. He will not understand a ten-minute display of a flight of stairs, a static image of a landscape. But all this was well received by intelligent Soviet spectators of the 70s.
Unlike Ordynsky and Roshal (the director of the first film adaptation), Khudyakov knows how dreams of universal happiness ended. This is another point that indicates that it is impossible to compare a modern film with paintings of the Soviet era.
The main advantage of the series “Walking through the agony” of 2017 is the accurate hit in today's realities, feelings and anxieties. The director is accused of showing the main characters as vulgar girls who persistently seek a better life. Perhaps Dasha and Katya are not looking for a better life, but its meaning.
Around everything is muddy, unsteady, incomprehensible. Intellectuals are engaged in demagogy, calling for revolutionary transformations. Perhaps the whole point is that they understand: you can escape to Paris at any time. The people they care about will shed blood. It is difficult for young women to adapt to this strange environment. Khudyakov showed the heroines of Tolstoy without simulated romance, naivety, sublimity - all that the modern viewer hardly perceived.
Political and philosophical discussions
The heroes of the series are constantly arguing. Not surprising. In an era of terrible change, fruitless discussions about the fate of the country are normal. Some viewers thought that the filmmakers had saved on consulting historians. Heroes do not speak at all like the characters of Tolstoy or any other writer say at the beginning of the 20th century. If in the picture of the Horde Besson and other dubious personalities express their opinion tactfully, calmly, almost unemotionally, then in Khudyakov they are arguing in elevated tones.
The audience’s sympathy was aroused by the few heroes of the film “Walking in agony”. One of them is Smokovnikov performed by Alexei Kolgan. While the exalted Bessonov broadcasts his rather strange ideas, Katerina's husband, a successful and wealthy lawyer, says: “Stability is good.” Everything revolutionary is foreign to Smokovnikov. It is alien to the father of the main characters - another character who does not cause irritation in the audience.
Sisters
This is the name of the first book of the novel by Alexei Tolstoy. Chipovskaya and Snigir failed images of the main characters. True, this can be argued, if you do not compare them with Alferova and Penkina - actresses of the 1977 film. The stars of Soviet cinema performed the roles of sisters from Tolstoy’s novel not only well, but superbly, brilliantly. Irina Alferova sunk into the soul of millions of viewers, the role of Dasha Bulavina glorified her throughout the country. Khudyakov's film did not make a splash. For actresses who performed the main roles, this work did not become significant in her career.
Anna Chipovskaya
The actress became known after the release of the series "Thaw". Perhaps the role in Todorovsky’s film is Chipovskaya’s most successful work to date. Most viewers who did not fail to leave feedback on the Khudyakov film, note that the actress played well, but she did not succeed in the image of a representative of the intelligentsia of the early XX century. Chipovskaya was not able to convey the emotions of Daria Bulavina, her sensuality, subtle spiritual organization. The actress is also known for the films “Pure Art”, “About Love”.
Julia Snigir
“The Last Slaughter”, “Inhabited Island”, “Gloss” - the career of the actress began with these films. Julia Snigir played 24-year-old Katya in the series “Going through the agony”. At least, this is exactly the age of the heroine in the first part of Tolstoy’s novel. According to the audience, Ekaterina Bulavina turned out to be performed by Snigir sharp and even bitchy. The image created by the actress does not fit into the atmosphere of time. In addition, the older sister in the film is modernized. There is nothing of the literary character in which Tolstoy’s wife is the prototype.
Anton Shagin
The actor played Bessonov - a poet with whom the Bulavins sisters are in love. In his performance, according to reviews, a character whose prototype was Alexander Blok looks rather strange. It’s hard to believe that the hero of Shagin could capture the feelings of Daria and Catherine, as well as the feelings of any other woman.
The actor became famous after the movie "Hipsters." He also played in the films “Kuprin. Pit ”,“ Friday ”,“ Hammer ”. In the series "Walking through the agony", Shagin probably played a role that is too far from his role.
The only actor who managed to create an image that fits into a historical film that tells about the revolution and the First World War is Leonid Bichevin. But his reviewers also compare with Solomin, who played Telegin in the 1977 film.
Other actors
Pavel Trubiner played Vadim Roshchin - the second husband of Ekaterina Bulavina. Svetlana Khodchenkova - to Lisa Rastorguev. A. Merzlikin, A. Kolgan, S. Koltakov, E. Tkachuk, A. Yatsenko, L. Aksenova, D. Dyuzhev, R. Madyanov, E. Stychkin, S. Puskepalis also played in the film.
The first directorial work of Khudyakov came out in 1975. In total, he made 29 films. Among them: “Death in the cinema”, “Success”, “On Verkhnyaya Maslovka”, “Leningrad”, “Once in Rostov”, “Shadow of Faberge”.
Khudyakov made a far from perfect film. But Tolstoy also wrote a remarkable book, although by no means a great one. The director adapted the plot, supplemented with details that are understandable to most viewers. He was repeatedly accused by critics of the fact that he took the main roles of actresses "with modern faces." But it would be difficult for him to pick up other artists. For a long time, media persons and heroes of the "yellow press" have been playing in cinema. It is really difficult to associate them with the characters of classical literature. The picture, created in 1977, of course, is better than the series of Konstantin Khudyakov. But only critics would watch a film of the level of the Horde today.