| Dead Souls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Based on | Dead Souls byNikolai Gogol |
| Written by | Mikhail Schweitzer |
| Directed by | Mikhail Schweitzer |
| Starring | Aleksandr Kalyagin Larisa Udovichenko Tamara Nosova Innokenty Smoktunovsky Vyacheslav Nevinny Inna Churikova |
| Narrated by | Aleksandr Trofimov |
| Music by | Alfred Schnittke |
| Country of origin | Soviet Union |
| Original language | Russian |
| Production | |
| Cinematography | Dilshat Fatkhulin |
| Running time | 387 minutes |
| Production company | Mosfilm |
| Original release | |
| Release | 19 November (1984-11-19) – 23 November 1984 (1984-11-23) |
Dead Souls (Russian:Мёртвые души,romanized: Myortvye dushi) is a 1984Soviettelevisionminiseries directed byMikhail Schweitzer, based onNikolai Gogol'sepic poem of the same name. This story has been shared in many different interpretations. In 1930, author Mikhail Bulgakov was commissioned to write the first adaptation of this novel for the Soviet stage at theMoscow Art Theater.[1] The 1984 miniseries was based on the1960 film adaptation directed byLeonid Trauberg, which was inspired the Moscow Art Theater script. This story was also adapted as an opera in the 1980s as an American-Soviet production that first opened in Boston.[2] The firstcinematic interpretation of this work was directed byPyotr Chardynin in 1909.
This is a small-screen rendering of Gogol's epic poem critiquing the class system in 19th-century Russia by the same name. In this film, main character Chichikov travels through the countryside buying dead souls, or serfs who had deceased. By purchasing the deed to these "property," Chichikov is able to improve his social standing at a discount as these individuals were still accounted for in property registers postmortem and the rights to ownership for deceased serfs was less than that of the living. Dead Souls is a critique and satire of middle class life in Imperial Russia.[3]
| Stage works | |
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| Orchestral music | |
| Concertante | |
| Chamber music | |
| Vocal music | |
| Collaborations | |
| Film scores |
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| Related articles | |
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