Boris Godounov

I am new to the world of writer/director Andrzej Zulawski.  I honestly had not heard of him until a few years ago, after seeing a clip from 1989's BORIS GODOUNOV on Facebook.   Its beautifully fluid tracking captured grimy locations filled with ravaged souls in some dark land, set to operatic arias.  Equipment and a film crew were visible in the background.  This was not a making of doc, but the movie itself.  Very meta.  A conceit that is ripe for failure and charges of pretension.  But I was hypnotized.  Clearly a genius (madman?) was at work.  I read that the film was Zulawski's visualization of the opera by Modest Mussorgsky and play by Alexander Pushkin, which was based on the tumultuous political events of seventeenth century Russia.

Audacious is the word.  Some have called it extreme cinema. There have been filmed operas before (like LA TRAVIATA), but none like this. We begin in a concert hall, about to watch the performance on stage.  Quickly we leap beyond, forgetting the theatrical confines.  Then we see the film sets and big lights.  Surreal about scratches the surface.  Sometimes the film is an indescribable feast for the senses, other times a bit murky.

After a few screenings of BORIS GODOUNOV,  I still don't know what to make of it.  I'm not (entirely) speaking of the story, which involves the terrible behind the scenes machinations of Boris' reign as Tsar two separate times.  There is grand Shakepearian drama of patricide, and of feigned loyalty and betrayal, partly at the hands of the cunningly smiling Prince Chouisky.  Reactionary forces Boris' ultimate undoing.  The results of Boris' decrees have led to hordes of serfs, wandering the countryside.  Battalions of them.  There are many unforgettable faces, reminiscent of Fellini's movies.

I was also reminded of the extravagant, over the top pageants of Ken Russell (mainly involving scenes with the lovely Polish princess Marina Mnichek), who like Zulawski enjoyed peppering his historical epics with anachronisms.  In BORIS GODOUNOV, it is impossible not to be reminded of twentieth century regimes in the Soviet Union and elsewhere. The violence is surprisingly restrained.  Zulawski does cut loose with a few randy sex scenes (with plenty of nudity elsewhere as well), but is not as uninhibited as his British peer behind the lens.  While the film does suffer some more deliberate stretches of uncertainty, the director maintains a handle on the action by smoothing adjusting tone from sililoquy to crescendo most of the time.  The stunning cinematography by Andrzej Jaroszewicz and Pierre-Laurent Chieux frames candlelit churches and choked daylight with shades of BARRY LYNDON.

Recommended for opera fans? With caution.  Purists will balk at the visuals, which often resemble a grand painting, and will likely just want to close their eyes and listen to Mstislav Rostrpovich masterful conducting of the Washington Symphony Orchestra and the heavenly voices of Galina Vishnevskaya and others.

Zulawski has weathered controversy with the release of each of his films.  One critic even accused BORIS GODOUNOV of being a threat to the "Russian soul."  I can't wait to dive into his other works.