Bulgakov: This world is mine!

One of the most interesting and anticipated events of the 45th Moscow International Festival was the premiere of Svetlana Astresova’s documentary Bulgakov. This world is mine!

“This world is mine,” are the words written by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov in his famous Theatrical Novel. The playwright and historian Edward Radzinsky, the artist of the Roman Viktyuk Theater, director Dmitry Bozin, as well as the wonderful actor and director, teacher of the Shchukin Theater School Pavel Lyubimtsev tell about the life and complex figure of Bulgakov in the film.

The film critic and TV presenter David Shneiderov hosted the evening dedicated to the premiere of the film together with the director of the film.

It rarely happens that the White Hall of the Cinema House is packed with spectators. The special event within the framework of the 45th Moscow International Film Festival gathered a huge number of fans of Bulgakov’s work. The catchphrases of Mikhail Afanasyevich were in the air: they sounded from the stage and during the subsequent communication on the sidelines.

For screenwriter and director of Svetlana Astresova’s film Bulgakov is the fourth documentary from the My Heroes series about great people.

– I wanted to create Bulgakov’s ideal world on the screen, in which the hero would feel good and comfortable: strange, magical, deliberately theatrical… If the structure is three-act, as in a theatrical production with prologues-overtures, if the video sequence is certainly red velvet, heavy stucco decor, lush, dilapidated scenery, if the soundtrack is archival recordings of Verdi, Gounod (performed by Chaliapin), Chopin. I included Mikhail Afanasyevich’s favorite music in the soundtrack, this is a kind of writer’s playlist, if he had one, – said the film’s director Svetlana Astretsova.

The picture is based on historical chronicles, as well as memoirs, memoirs, letters of the writer and those people who made up his “inner circle”. All of them are presented through the prism of the political events of that time and the prism of the theater.

– Bulgakov, as a person, was vulnerable, but strong. He was trusting, but he did not tolerate any deceit, any betrayal. This is an embodied conscience, an incorruptible honor, – this is what its participant, actor Pavel Lyubimtsev, said about the hero of the film.

Among the artists who were lucky enough to play in plays staged based on the works of Bulgakov is Dmitry Bozin, who plays the role of Woland in the legendary performance of Roman Viktyuk “The Master and Margarita”

– How long did the image of Woland transform in my mind. How much makeup have I tried! – Dmitry Bozin recalls. – Bulgakov has an amazing ability to be with the viewer, with the reader every second. All Bulgakov’s plays are perceived by the audience as something happening to them here and now. These are not some fictional characters, it’s you – Margarita, you – Woland, you – the Master!

The film sheds light on many mysteries in Bulgakov’s life. For example, why are his works so attractive to directors and cause such delight among the public? Why did fate suddenly turn its back on the author, whom Stalin himself called home the day after Mayakovsky’s funeral, and he fell into disgrace? Which women became Bulgakov’s muses? Why is it so important for a writer to choose the right “widow”? And, finally, how did Bulgakov influence the minds of his contemporary playwrights?

– Bulgakov’s aphorisms have become memes and scattered like the most important aphorism: if difficult times come, you, most importantly, remember, because this is the law for writers in this country: “Write, because manuscripts do not burn!”, – said playwright Edvard Radzinsky.

This picture was made for three years. The film crew set off in the footsteps of Bulgakov and visited various places associated with the work of the legendary writer: in Vladikavkaz, in Moscow, in the homeland of Mikhail Afanasyevich – in Kiev.

Bulgakov left the world a legacy of several dozen wonderful plays. Among them are the Days of the Turbins, Zoya’s Apartment, Run, The Cabal of the Hypocrites, which are staged all over the world, as well as those that are mainly known to Russian theatergoers – Adam and Eve, Mad Jourdain, The Last days (Pushkin)”, “Batum”. And very few people already realize that it was Bulgakov who created the libretto of the operas Minin and Pozharsky, The Black Sea and Don Quixote, and also wrote the screenplays for the films Dead Souls and The Inspector General. The text of the scripts, alas, was either never used for its intended purpose, or was used, but in the end we never saw the film. This is not mysticism at all, just the Master lived in difficult times, which, as you know, do not choose.

Elena Bulova.