Gennadi Mitrofanov

Praised for its fine photography and production design if not its narrative, Sergei Bondarchuk directed this adaptation of the tale by Alexander Pushkin. Boris Godunov came to the Czarist throne at the end of the 16th century, after the original heir to Ivan the Terrible had died. At first, things went well for Godunov (played by Bondarchuk), but when the Russian people began to believe he had killed Ivan the Terrible's son in order to gain the throne, an alliance sprang up against the new Czar. Events continued to spin out of control as a young monk was presented as the son Godunov had supposedly killed. Now he was openly accused of failing an assassination attempt, which seems to be even worse than succeeding. In addition to these woes, Boris Godunov began to suffer serious health problems. So much for the joys of kingship.

Based on the works of Franz Kafka.

After a ten year long stay in West Germany, Max returns to the Soviet Union to visit his deadly ill father in Leningrad. There he finds a friend in a man who calls himself Igor and he begins a love-affair with the deafmute Lena. Around Max' relationship to his father, Igor and Lena, losely held episodes give a many fasetted portrait of Leningrad and its inhabitants. In the eyes of the returning Max, the city is at once well-known and foreign. Lyrically saturated images and sophisticated editing contributes to making the film an expressive description of a changing city.