Brief description of the characters
Main characters
- Katerina Lvovna is a 24-year-old person who is sad in an unhappy marriage. Capable of anything for the sake of her beloved, ruthless.
- Sergei is a servant on a merchant's estate. A womanizer, he is only interested in the woman’s financial condition, and has no real warm feelings for anyone.
Minor characters
- Zinovy Borisovich is Katerina’s rich husband. Wants to have heirs, but cannot. He blames his young wife for this.
- Boris Timofeevich is the elderly father-in-law of the main character. Honest and correct, he cannot turn a blind eye to deception.
- Fyodor Izmailov is a boy, the heir to a fortune by law. The child is trusting and sincere.
- Fiona is an arrested woman. Knows how to sympathize.
- Sonnetka is a young girl, a prisoner. Cunning, manipulates men.
The film “Lady Macbeth” (2016), what is the plot of this film about?
The world premiere of the new feature film “Lady Macbeth” , created by English filmmakers in the dramatic genre, took place on September 10, 2016 .
The premiere screening of this film in Russian cinemas took place three weeks ago, on August 3, 2017, and now it can already be watched online on websites providing such services.
What will the plot of this film tell the audience? Is it worth watching?
First of all, it is worth noting that the plot of this film is something like a remake of “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” - films from different years, also shot in different countries. True, I didn’t find the Russian version.
In principle, the creators of the film were quite successful in stylizing its plot to the British reality of the nineteenth century, while maintaining its main storyline, which is almost no different from its original. The result was a completely normal movie, based on Russian classics.
In its plot, we get acquainted with the rural way of life and morals of old, Victorian England of the nineteenth century and with the inhabitants of a small village, where the main character named Catherine lives.
Her life drags on slowly, measuredly and boringly, like everyone else in that village, until she is married off to a man who is old enough to be her father.
As always happens, the daughter-in-law did not fit into the court of her new relatives; she was bullied by all and sundry, showing that she was the very last person in this house.
Naturally, after some time, the young woman’s heart was won by a handsome young servant, and passion flared up between them...
You will find out for yourself what happened next by watching this picture to the end.
The actors who starred in the film, in principle, coped well with their roles. The difficulty of assessing this is that everything that we see on the screen forces us to compare what is happening there with our original Russian version - “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” by the writer Nikolai Leskov.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting the fact that the plot here develops quite dynamically, contains intrigue, sometimes forcing you to think out what its authors did not want to fully reveal. The musical accompaniment of the film is quite consistent with its plot.
I think you will enjoy the film, although judging by the reviews left for this film, it has drawn mixed conclusions from various critics.
I wish you pleasant viewing.
Retelling briefly
Katerina lives the ordinary life of a young merchant's wife with an elderly husband. The spouse is often absent from home. During one of his departures, she meets the clerk Sergei, who seduces her. A woman falls in love, gradually ceasing to hide her betrayal. Father-in-law Boris Timofeevich finds out about this, spanks Sergei and promises his daughter-in-law that he will notify his son about what happened. In response, she slips poison into her relative, and he suddenly dies. After some time, the husband returns, who already knows about his wife’s infidelity. She confesses everything to him, kisses Sergei in front of him, and then they jointly kill Izmailov.
It becomes clear that the merchant's wife is pregnant. The couple decides that now the entire inheritance will go to them. However, soon the sister of the deceased arrives and brings him to stay until the will is read out for his young nephew and legal heir, Fyodor Izmailov. The lovers decide to kill again. The moment when they suffocate the child with a pillow is noticed by the servants. Both are arrested and sent to hard labor.
Sergei's feelings begin to fade. On the way, he cheats on Katerina, first with Fiona, and then falls in love with Sonetka, who reciprocates his feelings. Izmailova’s origin haunts the prisoners; she is bullied and ridiculed. Sergei takes the side of the majority. The man publicly admits his feelings for Sonetka. Katerina grabs the girl and jumps with her into the waters of the river, where she drags her to the bottom and drowns herself.
Natalya Andreichenko as Katerina, Alexander Abdulov as Sergei (film adaptation of the story)
Summary by chapter
Chapter first
Katerina Lvovna did not shine with beauty, so she was unable to choose a groom. Zinovy Borisovich turned out to be a stingy man with affection, and was often absent from home. The young woman was frankly bored at the merchant’s estate. The couple had no children, and this saddened the whole family. She did not go on visits and often spent time in solitude. From time to time I watched the servants work and felt sad. My husband didn't care about it.
Chapter two
One day, a mill burst on the estate, and Zinovy Borisovich had to urgently leave to save the goods. Katerina continued to suffer all day long alone. One day she went out into the yard and saw people there laughing loudly. I came up to find out what the occasion was. It turned out that some handsome young man was mocking an overweight elderly cook, which greatly amused those around him. Katerina invites him to determine by eye how much weight she has. They playfully measure their physical strength, and Sergei lifts the young hostess into his arms. She gets embarrassed and leaves; on the way, the cook explains that this new clerk is a womanizer who was fired from his previous job for having an affair with the owner’s wife.
Chapter Three
The husband still did not return. Katerina watches Sergei from the window, he notices her and comes to the door in the evening. He says compliments, nice words, and she lets him into the house. The man admits that he has a passion for Katerina. For this she allows him to spend the night in the master's chambers.
Chapter Four
Lovers spend days and nights together. One night, Boris Timofeevich catches Serey coming down from his daughter-in-law's window. He is trying to find out whether he understood correctly that Katerina is no longer faithful to his son. Sergei does not confess, Izmailov takes him to the cellar, flogs him there and locks him up, simultaneously sending a message to his son.
Katerina comes to her father-in-law and demands to let her lover go. Boris Timofeevich is furious with such impudence. She says that she will tell her husband everything and she will be torn out in the stables, and the clerk will be sent to prison.
Chapter Five
Soon Boris Timofeevich, having eaten his usual dinner, dies from poisoning the next morning. Before this, the rats that Katerina poisoned in the barn with her own personally prepared poison also died.
The merchant's wife lets Sergei out of the basement and puts him on her husband's bed to be treated. Boris Timofeevich is buried without waiting for his son's arrival. Katerina becomes bolder, begins to take charge of the house, Sergei goes with her everywhere. The man recovers quickly after the spanking.
Chapter Six
Summer has come, Sergei spends his days and nights in the master bedroom. Katerina dreams that a cat came into the bedroom, which had not been seen before. She wants to kick him out, but her hand slips through him like through smoke. She tries to find out from the cook what her dream means. She answers evasively, since she doesn’t understand dreams. The month that Katerina dreamed of symbolizes the baby.
In a conversation with Sergei, Katerina mentions that if her beloved ever cheats, then there will be no life in this world for her. Sergei turns the topic to her relationship with her husband. He worries that he will be exiled if he appears at the estate again. He says he wants to marry her, but their time has not come yet.
Chapter Seven
The merchant's wife has a dream that the cat has come again and speaks to her in the voice of Boris Timofeevich. Then, instead of a cat's, she sees her father-in-law's dead head. Lovers wake up from an incomprehensible noise. At night the merchant Izmailov returned. Katerina hides Sergei outside the window and asks him to wait. Zinovy still notices that she did not spend the night alone. The husband says that he knows about the betrayal and tries to scare the woman, which makes her angry. She brings Sergei and admits to treason. Izmailov slaps his wife in the face.
Chapter Eight
Katerina flies into a rage and grabs Zinovy by the throat, trying to strangle him. He throws his husband to the floor, and he hits his head hard. He asks Sergei to hold Izmailov. Sergei sits on top of him and presses down so that he does not move. Seeing his wife's lover, Zinovy Borisovich begins to resist. Katerina Lvovna takes a candlestick and breaks her husband’s skull. Izmailov loses his sense of reality from trauma and asks to call the priest to confess. Katerina orders Sergei to finish off Izmailov and helps him put his hands on the merchant’s throat.
The corpse of the owner of the house is lowered into the basement, where it is buried. Katerina removes traces of blood.
Chapter Nine
It soon turns out that the woman is pregnant. This means that the entire fortune of the missing person will go to Katerina and her offspring. Papers arrive regarding the financial affairs of the estate, it turns out that Boris Timofeevich has accumulated debts from his own nephew and, in fact, he is now the first contender for the inheritance.
A boy and his aunt arrive. Katerina settles them in the house. Sergei realizes that there is now no inheritance in sight, but the merchant’s wife says that she is ready to be with him in both wealth and poverty. The clerk does not agree to such a turn, because he was initially interested in the condition of his mistress. He says that now they will not be happy, blaming little Fedor for everything.
Chapter Ten
Fedya now occupies all of Katerina’s thoughts. She thinks that all her previous sins have gone to waste, that she will not see an inheritance, simultaneously blaming the boy for all the troubles. Fyodor and his grandmother still live in the Izmailovs’ house. One day he becomes seriously ill. Katerina sits with him sometimes, feeds him and sees doctors.
A terrible plan is brewing in her head. The merchant's wife follows Sergei and secretly takes him to the child's room.
Chapter Eleven
The boy has a presentiment of something bad. Katerina, under a plausible pretext, leaves the room, whispers with Sergei and returns back. The clerk comes in after her, the boy gets scared and screams. The merchant's wife puts her hand over his mouth and asks Sergei to hold the child. She herself takes the pillow and leans all its weight on Fedya’s face.
There is noise all around. It turned out that one of the servants saw the child being strangled and started panicking. Sergei runs out of the room, he imagines Zinovy Borisovich. Fyodor dies of suffocation, and at that very moment they break into the house.
Chapter Twelve
The city where the action takes place has very pious people. Rumors have long spread about the merchant's wife and the clerk. Curious townspeople once passed by its windows and decided to look through the crack. So they saw that Sergei and Katerina were strangling the child, and made a fuss. The clerk was taken to the police station on the same day. They assigned people to Katerina and locked her in a room.
The man confesses to all the murders and reveals the owner’s involvement in them. Fyodor is buried along with his uncle, who was found in the cellar after the clerk's testimony. Katerina initially denies it, but then confesses to what she did and says that she did everything for Sergei’s sake.
Lovers are publicly flogged, putting the mark of convicts on their faces. Katerina gives birth to a child in the prison hospital and gives him away without even looking.
Chapter Thirteen
The journey to hard labor begins. The child was given to be raised by the grandmother of the murdered Fedor. The baby was considered the only heir of the Izmailov family. Katerina gives the boy away without pity; love for his father does not extend to the baby.
A woman negotiates a date with her lover for money, paying for the opportunity to walk next to him on the stage. But Sergei’s feelings cool down sharply. On one of the roads they are connected with Moscow convicts, among whom are Fiona and Sonetka.
Fiona is a silly, kind woman who never refuses affection from anyone. Sonnetka is a cunning 17-year-old girl who doesn’t let anyone get close to her.
Chapter fourteen
Sergei seeks Fiona's favor. One day Katerina catches them together, which infuriates her. For some time she is offended by her beloved, but then forgives him. Meanwhile, the man switches to Sonetka, who begins to reciprocate his feelings. Sergei gradually robs Katerina, giving money and other property to his new mistress.
Chapter fifteen
Katerina discovers that her lover is not faithful to her. The man no longer hides his new love by publicly kissing Sonetka. The whole stage laughs at Katerina, except for Fiona, who takes pity on her and supports her. One night, Katerina is beaten, continuing to be bullied because of her origin and intractable nature. Katerina does not stand up for herself; she sees murdered relatives everywhere around her. In a moment of despair, she throws herself at Sonetka, and together they fly over the side of the barge on which they sailed to Siberia. In front of those present, Katerina drags Sonetka under the water, where they both die.
Katerina leaves on stage
CinemaHere is the Russian spiritless: Why you need to watch “Lady Macbeth”
For the same reason (revision of values), Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth does not have the hysteria that is inherent in Russian literary classics of the 19th century. The action of the original source is a feverish leap from static to hyperdynamic, which ends in an all-consuming flame of passion, and begins in the lazy afternoon heat, when fat birds jump from branch to branch in front of yesterday's landowners (the essay was written in 1864, three years after the abolition of serfdom ). This universal boredom of foolish people becomes the true cause of the troubles of Nikolai Leskov’s heroes: they behave like children all their lives, but waste time like newlyweds. The heroine is reproached because she does not give birth to a child for her husband, but she also thinks to herself: “If only I gave birth to a child, it would seem that it would be fun.” She doesn’t like to read (“besides, there weren’t any books in the house, besides the Kyiv Patericon”), but likes to drink tea, sleep, yawn, look into the garden and peel sunflower grains.
It is, in general, pointless to feel sorry for the louts of both sexes who skate through the pages of Russian literature of that period (as Anton Chekhov correctly noted half a century later, parodying all this in the comedy “The Cherry Orchard”); One should regret the absence of the necessary social institutions at that time. Women's admission to higher educational institutions in Russia was prohibited in the 19th century, and only lucky ones, like Sofia Kovalevskaya, could study abroad or, like Anna Volkova, work in a laboratory. In the 1860s, when Leskov's essay was written, interest in the legal status of Russian women was just emerging. Partly thanks to the social democratic movement, which Leskov so short-sightedly laughs at through the image of the convict Fiona (she is not in the film). That “was Russian simplicity, which is even too lazy to tell someone: “Go away” and which knows only one thing, that she is a woman. Such women are very highly valued in robber gangs, prison parties and St. Petersburg social-democratic communes.”
English landscapes “with character”, subtle nuances of lighting, the stingy geometricism of the hated house - all this is shown so gracefully that the work of the magnificent Ari Wegner wants to be compared with the picturesque beauty of the cinematography of Djarin Blaschke (Robert Eggers' The Witch) or Bruno Delbonnel (Faust) Alexandra Sokurov). Another joy is the music, which is almost absent in the film. Silence best conveys boredom in the information vacuum of the 19th century. And only the creaking of the floorboards - for peace.
