Opera

Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov

A movie adaptation by Andrzej Zulawski

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Cast

Andrzej Zulawski — Video operator, scenography

Pierre-Laurent Chénieux — Video operator

Andrzej Jaroszewicz — Video operator

Nicolay Dvigubsky — Stage director

Vlastimir Gavrik — Stage director

Magdalena Biernawska-Teslawska — Costumes

Marie-Sophie Dubus — Video editor

Ruggero Raimondi — Boris Godunov

Kenneth Riegel — Prince Chouisky

Pavel Slaby — Monk Grigori

Delphine Forest — Marina Mnichek

National Symphony Orchestra

Mstislav Rostropovich — Conductor

Program notes

The film adaptation of Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov is on medici.tv! A superb film directed by Andrzej Żuławski in 1989.

Polish director Andrzej Żuławski (1940-2016) directed many films in France. He flew Poland in the 1972 because of its strong censorship—his second feature The Devil was banned by the Polish authorities. Among his fifteen films: That Most Important Thing: Love, L'amour Braque, Possession and Boris Godunov. Żuławski was also a writer and a film critic. He directed Boris Godunov in 1989. The story is based on the opera of the same name by Modest Mussorgsky, which is itself based on Pushkin's play. It features the original 1872 Mussorgsky's score, although with significant cuts. This production is ambitious but achieves its aim thanks to the singers and the actors who are up to the challenge, the scenery and the costumes which are splendid. Ruggero Raimondi plays the title role and Mstislav Rostropovich conducts the Washington National Symphony Orchestra.

Argument

After Tsar Fedor's death and the Tsarevich Dimitri's murder, Boris Godunov takes power in popular acclaim. A monk called Grigori decides that Boris must be punished: passing himself off as Dimitri (miraculously escaped from the hands of his executioners). Grigori stirs up rebellion.

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