Respectable series with good acting and solid portrayal of 19th Russia (as far as I can judge). I wish I saw a production like that 30 or 40 years ago before reading Dostoyevsky's novels. Growing up in Poland I learned Russian at school and at some point decided to improve it, especially that I had a couple of close Russian friends and now live very close to the Eastern frontier of EU. Though I have not become an expert Russian speaker I learned enough to read many books of Russian literature in the original language, including almost all novels by Dostoevsky. I was fascinated by works like "Crime and Punishment", "The brothers Karamazov", "The Gambler" which I think are general and timeless enough to be understood by everyone. Some of Dostoevsky's novels are straightforward but weak (like "Poor folk" or "The Village of Stepanchikovo"). On the other hand I had problems with couple of well known works like "The Idiot" or "The Devils". I found fragments of them fascinating, other boring and some other fragments puzzling. The main problem was that I did not understand enough of the personality of Fyodor Dostoevsky. That knowledge would have helped me to judge those novels objectively. So this TV series was very helpful to me. I didn't realize how much Dostoevsky was preoccupied with some ideas about special predestination of Russian Orthodox Church and Russian people, which is the key for understanding some of his characters like prince Myshkin from "The Idiot". This topic is skillfully handled in "Dostoevskiy" by showing fragments of conversations of Dostoevsky with other members of Russian intelligentsia and his disputes with more open minded and cosmopolitan Ivan Turgenev. So as far as I can judge the director and writer did excellent job in trying to portray Dostoyevsky in an honest and objective way, including his addiction to gambling. The acting was good and all characters credible. Nice glimpse into the atmosphere of Russia too. Sometimes you could feel the snow and frost almost physically, though it was not oppressive and the charm of winter landscapes was shown. My appreciation and respect for all people taking part in this series. I would highly recommend it to anyone intending to read books by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
4 Reviews
Solid biographical series from Russia
chnutscher31 March 2017
Solid biographical series from Russia.
No review so far, time to give this production some credit. I enjoyed it very much. A retrospective of the life of Dostojewski, the well known Russian literary man, struggling with the life apart wealth and social security. Yes, I even read one or two of his books. Historically adequately accurate, as far as i can judge, without exaggerated creative scripting liberties. Evgeniy Mironov playing Dostojewski does an excellent, convincing job, as does Chulpan Khamatova as Maria Issaïeva, his first wife. Settings are well done and epoch-adequate, but without the excessive over-tidy lab-cleanliness as IMO you can see often in westerner epoch/costume dramas etc., so it delivers a quite realistic impression without being overdone. No violence, few nudity, no "sensations", and still perfectly able to catch you. It delivers also some background on the Russian reception of the European revolutionary movement around 1848.
Promising is that it is an entirely Russian production, somewhat a refreshing counterpart of the US/UK/Nordic domination in good series and mini-series, also with IMO a somewhat different acting style. I watched the series in the German synchronization, I hope it's available also in English.
Well done. Hope to see more of this kind from Russia, as they have a rich historical fund at disposition.
No review so far, time to give this production some credit. I enjoyed it very much. A retrospective of the life of Dostojewski, the well known Russian literary man, struggling with the life apart wealth and social security. Yes, I even read one or two of his books. Historically adequately accurate, as far as i can judge, without exaggerated creative scripting liberties. Evgeniy Mironov playing Dostojewski does an excellent, convincing job, as does Chulpan Khamatova as Maria Issaïeva, his first wife. Settings are well done and epoch-adequate, but without the excessive over-tidy lab-cleanliness as IMO you can see often in westerner epoch/costume dramas etc., so it delivers a quite realistic impression without being overdone. No violence, few nudity, no "sensations", and still perfectly able to catch you. It delivers also some background on the Russian reception of the European revolutionary movement around 1848.
Promising is that it is an entirely Russian production, somewhat a refreshing counterpart of the US/UK/Nordic domination in good series and mini-series, also with IMO a somewhat different acting style. I watched the series in the German synchronization, I hope it's available also in English.
Well done. Hope to see more of this kind from Russia, as they have a rich historical fund at disposition.
Could have been so much better
Larry98624 January 2022
Good production and sets but I found this quite frustrating. Started well with his time his harrowing close call with firing squad and his time in detention camp But the last few episodes there was too much focus on his love life. Was there really any need to focus on Paulina or the two sisters? Added nothing to the story. Yes he had a gambling problem but this went overboard showing him repeatedly gambling.
Where was the focus on the release of his last great five novels? In particular Crime and Punishment and Brothers Karamazov. Crime was released in parts and created enormous excitement but this showed nothing, just an after thought. Nothing re Grand Inquisitor or Dostoevsky's famous tribute speech to Pushkin. When they focused on his views it excelled but unfortunately that was too far and few between.
Where was the focus on the release of his last great five novels? In particular Crime and Punishment and Brothers Karamazov. Crime was released in parts and created enormous excitement but this showed nothing, just an after thought. Nothing re Grand Inquisitor or Dostoevsky's famous tribute speech to Pushkin. When they focused on his views it excelled but unfortunately that was too far and few between.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
