Posts from The Master and Margarita

Finally, during my illness, I managed to watch Might and Magic in its entirety. I wish I hadn't. The nonsensical Voland, the hysterical Margarita, the cowardly Yeshua, and the inexplicably introduced Man in a French coat. A pathetic sight. Yes, many moments are conveyed verbatim, but Margarita's ballgown? A quote from Bulgakov: "Margarita doesn't remember who made her slippers from pale rose petals and how these slippers fastened themselves with golden buckles. Some force lifted Margarita and placed her in front of a mirror, and a royal diamond crown sparkled in her hair.

Alexey, you are wrong! You are exhibiting the first negative impression of the film, which only deepened during the full viewing. The eccentric Woland is a bit old, but where does his eccentricity manifest? The hysterical Margarita – I didn't notice... The cowardly Yeshua – the only criticism might be about Bezrukov, but it's definitely not about cowardice; he is portrayed, as far as I remember, almost word for word from the book. The man in the French coat – he was in the book, as far as I remember; they just introduced him a bit more in the film; he embodies the NKVD agents. Overall, the film is focused on atmosphere; if you don't appreciate the atmosphere, then you won't like it...

I had been waiting for this movie for so many years. I was ready to forgive everything – bad casting, poor sets. But I can’t forgive the transformation of a philosophical book into a political pamphlet. After watching the film, I felt that Woland came to Moscow only to annoy the NKVD. And Margarita behaves like a hysterical woman throughout the film – wild laughter, screams, a crazy look. The only character I liked was Azazello. Filipenkov managed to portray the role at the highest level.

I didn't like the old Voland.

Added 1 minute ago
In the book, I'm annoyed by the distortion of the Bible.

AlexeyPank
It seems that in the book, blood was dripping from her head as well.
Wild laughter and a crazy look – as long as she behaves like this, she's a witch. Witches are supposed to act this way.

XEL
Didn't you know that Bulgakov was almost a Satanist? His father was a priest, and he couldn't stand him.

It often happens to me that I like the novels, but not their authors. That's how it is with Lermontov. "A Hero of Our Time" is a brilliant work, but Lermontov himself is almost a jerk. Almost the same with Bulgakov and "The Master and Margarita."

Added after 14 hours and 14 minutes
The book is excellent, and the film adaptation is also good, except for a few moments.

Didn't you know that Bulgakov was almost a Satanist? He had a priest for a father, whom he couldn't stand.

Bulgakov wasn't a Satanist, but an artist;)
"The Master and Margarita" is a work of fiction and nothing more (not a historical or religious treatise or anything of the sort). In any work of fiction, everything is subordinate to artistic imagery, rather than historical (or rather, pseudo-historical) authenticity.

Nevertheless, in terms of its religious message within an atheistic state, this novel can be considered an apology for Christianity (as a phenomenon as a whole). This is evidenced by many and many examples of atheists converting to Christianity during the Soviet era, specifically thanks to this novel.

"And the question of whether the Devil suffers, although not discussed in religion, is of great interest to writers... For example, does anyone know the story by Henry Lion Oldie, 'Children of the Eighth Commandment'?"

or "The Devil's Sorrow"?

I didn't like the old Woland.

Added 1 minute ago
In the book, I'm annoyed by the distortion of the Bible.

The best Woland is Viktor Avilov (may he rest in peace).:smile05:
I saw the play "The Master and Margarita" with his participation. Has anyone else seen this production by the New Moscow Theater?

Regarding the distortion of the Bible, I don't quite agree. For example, when I read it, I feel like I'm standing in the palace of Jerusalem, and I actually remember the Jerusalem chapters by heart, even though I didn't try to memorize them.

Bulgakov imbued the image of "evil" with nobility: "evil" used to help, but not without a price (and here, they didn't even sign a blood pact).
The novel is written on the principle of understatement (Bulgakov read the first chapters of the novel to his friends, pausing and asking them what would happen next). But for us, everything is already neatly arranged. Each to their own!

It was very interesting to read the early versions of the novel; there is a collection of them. In some parts, I liked them even more than the final version.

Such individuals never do anything without a hidden motive. Never.

Unfortunately, I haven't read the book:(. But I did watch the TV series based on the book:smile54:. By the way, the series seems to be very faithful to the book:). In short, here's my IMHO: "The Master and Margarita" is simply great:smile20:.

TV-manka:p But you'll still be forced to read the book in school... probably in 11th grade.

TV-manka A you'll still be forced to read the book in school... around 11th grade.

I'm not a TV-manka! By the way, it's not mandatory to read it; you can just rewatch the series at that time (I have it on DVD :p). Actually, my sister did that, and she got a 4 or 5, I don't remember exactly, but I know that it worked out fine for her.

One of my favorite books! The Bortko series was a hit:smile12:, nothing caused any rejection. Even Bezrukov, after his previous roles, was quite good here: Yeshua should at least seem a little crazy - the actor managed to portray the smile of a kind idiot:D! I also wanted to share my opinion about one play (sometimes Muscovites come even to our backwater:cool:). To be honest, I've been to the theater very, very few times:(, I'm more familiar with this art form through televised broadcasts. But here I had the opportunity to see such a wonder live. I won't say the exact name of the theater (it seems to be some kind of "New" one), unfortunately, I also won't name the director - I'm still not a big theatergoer: THEATER and that's it:o! What I definitely remember: Ivar Kalnysh played Pilate, and Olga Kryukova played Margarita (these are the names that are more or less well-known - I didn't remember the rest...). The curtain rises, and I am unpleasantly surprised by what seems to me to be the absurdity of the scenery and some kind of "musical" introduction. The scenery is so poor that I'll try to describe it in its entirety: in the background there is a "banner" of the "Lenin Mental Hospital" with a pseudo-Leninist "motto": "get treated! get treated! and get treated again!"; on both sides of these inscriptions are painted architectural columns in a classical style; a chair covered with a blue cloak with a skull on top stands a little closer to the stage; a stove and a bench on the right and left complete the simple stage setting, which did not change throughout the performance:D! But later, the actors' performance and some clever directorial decisions completely corrected the initial negative impression. Here are some "highlights" of the production: - one actor usually played several characters (Behemoth-Berlioz-Kafa:eek:, Master-Yeshua, for example) - I understand that this may be because "not everyone could be brought in," but it turned out to be very organic and unconventional; - interesting Gela and Bezdomny (although the director clearly amplified their roles compared to those they had in the book); - the satirical element still prevailed, but it did not overshadow the themes of love in "Master and Margarita" and the novel about Pilate; - Voland was definitely younger than Basilashvili: with black hair and a ponytail, overall phlegmatic, as befits a true Voland:) , but once he even did this -:smile44: (it seemed like it was an improvisation - but it didn't spoil the impression); - the death of Berlioz was shown grotesquely, and the directors did a good job in the situations with Margarita's flight and the Grand Ball at the Full Moon. In the end, in 2.5 hours, to my great surprise, I realized that the novel was retold in theatrical language with almost no omissions. :smile12: A telling moment was that my girlfriend, who, not because of cultural backwardness, but due to lack of time, had not yet become acquainted with the great novel (in 11th grade, she had an economic focus - there was no literature), also spoke about this performance with enthusiasm, and she doesn't really like the theater (but she reads a lot of good literature). P.S. I apologize if it's too "long" and not quite on topic...