Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov
A movie adaptation by Andrzej Zulawski
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
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, writer, and film critic Andrzej Żuławski (1940-2016) directed many films in France. He fled Poland in 1972 because of its strong censorship—his second feature The Devil was banned by the Polish authorities. His fifteen films include That Most Important Thing: Love, L'amour Braque, and Possession, and Boris Godunov, directed 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 superb cast of singers and actors, as well as the splendid scenery and costumes. Ruggero Raimondi plays the title role alongside Mstislav Rostropovich who conducts the Washington National Symphony Orchestra.
Plot
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.
