Lokshin vs. Bortko: the scandal surrounding the new film adaptation of “The Master and Margarita” was not surprising

At “Russia 1”, without even a doubt, to such accompaniment they took and released into the night their Master and their Margarita, locally produced, made in Russia by director Vladimir Bortko back in 2005. Oh, how young we were.

But even then they argued desperately: isn’t Woland, Oleg Basilashvili, too old? (Although he is superstar!) Or Pontius Pilate, the last role in the cinema of Kirill Lavrov. Well, Koroviev, aka Fagot, one of the pre-death shots of Alexander Abdulov. Bortko filmed according to the text, diligently, did not change anything. What happened? Let’s talk.

Even earlier, in 1994, Yuri Kara made his own movie based on Bulgakov’s cult novel. It would seem a wonderful casting, simply perfect: Margarita – Anastasia Vertinskaya (who else?!), Woland – Valentin Gaft (who else?!), Pilate – Mikhail Ulyanov. But here Vertinskaya was supposed to become Margarita 20 years ago (“What do you have, no matter what you’re missing, there’s nothing!”), and Gaft was not impressed… And the director generally went into all serious troubles, sensing freedom, the abolition of the damned censorship and began filming naked women (I almost wrote “naked women”) in huge numbers. And this is the Master, and this is Margarita? Moreover, as expected, evil spirits intervened, and the film was shown only 17 years after its release. Well, the devil got me wrong.

And now… Bulgakov described Moscow in the 30s, where, with the help of Woland (and this was Comrade Stalin and no one else), he dealt with all his enemies from the literary and theatrical world, took revenge for all these bullying and humiliation. After all, it was Stalin who went to the “Days of the Turbins” 15 times and could not tear himself away from Khmelev’s mustache. It was Stalin who called Bulgakov and, when he was being persecuted from everywhere, got a job as a director at the Moscow Art Theater under Stanislavsky. It was Stalin who rejected Bulgakov’s “Batum”, after which the Master died.

…They attack the director: yes, he is an American. There was Michael, then he became Mikhail, now he is Michael Lokshin again. They demand that the film be removed from distribution. Fools, with your stupid screams you are only advertising the production, people are filling the cinemas with terrible force, there are no empty seats. Again we remembered the Soviet principle: if the newspapers write “bad” or scold you, you have to buy tickets and definitely go see it.

Well, liberals, oppositionists, they admire (“The Queen is delighted”). They look for hints about today (“Why do we need to go to heaven? We will go to the Crimean region,” reads the poet Bezdomny). But it’s so cheap. They elevate the director to the shield because he is one of ours. Which means the film is wonderful.

And Bortko is a communist, a statist, so everything he does is thrown into the trash. During perestroika, he shot “Heart of a Dog,” so much so that it was better than Bulgakov’s. No, it won’t do, away with it – Bortko can’t make a good movie.

I shot “The Master and Margarita”, word for word, close to the text – bad, sad, boring.

That is, cinema is evaluated primarily politically, on a friend-or-foe basis.

…I went to see a new film adaptation based on it, and had difficulty getting a ticket for the very latest showing. Do you believe in my objectivity? Then listen. The first two hours are a very boring show. And not Bulgakov at all. I wanted to sleep and even leave. And only the last 40 minutes – the shock ending, there was energy, tempo, Margarita, Yulia Snigir, on a broom, and the sluggish Tsyganov, replacing the Master, was somehow transformed. Although Satan’s Ball cannot be compared with what Bortko did. Anna Kovalchuk is still better than Snigir there. No, naked Snigir is beautiful, but that’s not enough. In Bortko (and in Bulgakov!) she is wrapped in a crown of thorns, standing practically on nails, and you understand how unbearably, mortally painful she is, but she endures for the sake of her beloved.

You watch the Bortko series at night (when else?) and enjoy it. Basilashvili, Kirill Lavrov of blessed memory, Bezrukov like Yeshua and even Galibin – all are better than the current ones. Even if the German actor August Diehl starred with Tarantino, this still does not mean anything. Where should he go against Basilashvili? And all the evil spirits, Bortko’s servants of Woland – Abdulov, Filippenko, Bashirov (Behemoth) completely outplay Lokshin’s incomprehensible people, even Yura Kolokolnikov and the real cat.

Friend or foe is not a method. Vladimir Bortko is also a stranger to me now, but we simply have to give him his due, he is a wonderful director. And Mikhail Lokshin is my own, but his movie is worse than what we were shown on the night of “Russia 1”. I think so.

TENDERNESS

This is a program about films, about Soviet classics. That’s what it’s called: “Cinema about cinema.” Presenter: Alexander Kazakevich.

You know, there is a brilliance of talent, hidden knowledge, memory. But this episode is special. This is the case when the story of a great movie is no less vivid, dramatic, and poetic than the picture itself.

Oil painting: how “Three Poplars on Plyushchikha” was filmed. What’s the main thing? The song “Tenderness”, which Tatyana Doronina sings in a taxi to Efremov and to all of us. She doesn’t even know what the song is called. I just liked it, so I remembered it. Well, except for that French pilot… Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Tatyana Lioznova, the director, insisted on this song and persuaded Pakhmutova. From the song, the movie spun and gathered further, like from a stove. Tenderness is the main thing, the main thing. Something that Nyura, Anna Grigorievna, did not know at all in life. The husband (Vyacheslav Shalevich) also did not recognize this feeling. And from where?

And suddenly Moscow, a random taxi driver. “I don’t want anything bad for you, only good things.” Will it go or not, will it go or won’t it? “Here are the keys, on the chest,” naive spectators shout to Doronina’s help. No, she passed by the tenderness, after all, her husband, children, just Tatyana Larina.

Did Tatyana Vasilyevna herself and her five husbands have enough tenderness throughout their lives? And Tatyana Lioznova, so brilliant and so tough, lonely? All the tenderness remained only in the movies.

And what about the first performer of the song, Maya Kristalinskaya? She sang it, already knowing about her fatal diagnosis. That’s why I wear a scarf around my neck so that they don’t see her chemistry. And Joseph Kobzon, tenderly supporting Maya at her last concert.

Tenderness, where are you? How you want it. And the whole country, imbued with tenderness not for the French pilot and wonderful writer, but for our Yuri Gagarin, he just crashed at the age of 34.

This program was made by Kazakevich with such tenderness. Both skill and inspiration. This is rare for TV, so I couldn’t help but notice it.