Johnny Flynn and Aimee Lou Wood star as the seminal Russian author and his devoted, under-appreciated wife Anna in a satirical, unexpectedly romantic portrait from Polish duo Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert. As biographical films on major historical figures go, “The Idiot(s)” starts off with an advantage over most, since it covers only a finite, conflict-laden passage of its subject’s storied life. This enjoyably off-kilter dramedy then further ingratiates itself with viewers bored of traditionalist hagiographies, because it also functions as a biting exercise in separating the art from the artist.
That’s not precisely with the intention of justifying one’s enjoyment of a creator’s body of work despite their unsavory personal past; on the contrary, the hope is that even as the less flattering characteristics of seminal Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky are exposed, one can still find value in his perspective. The image of the bearded wise man behind literary landmarks that dissect the human condition is exchanged for that of a wretched gambler, a drunken fool drowning in his childish arrogance, thus deliberately detaching him from the grandeur of his oeuvre. Here he’s closer to some of his doomed characters than to the polished mirage of intellectual depth on painted portraits and photographs.
This Dostoevsky (Johnny Flynn)—made of flesh, blood, vomit and other impolite bodily fluids — and his much younger wife Anna (Aimee Lou Wood) have arrived in Germany on their honeymoon. The famed he accrued with “Crime and Punishment” follows him, yet the pompousness of Western Europe disgusts Fyodor, an insufferably proud Russian. Early on in the film, he out-Russians his compatriot and fellow scribe Ivan Turgeniev (Christian Friedel, “The Zone of Interest”) in an impromptu dance off.
The cowardly, devious Turgeniev has assimilated to the comforts of the West —that alone is enough for Fyodor to detest him. That “The Idiot(s)” is the work of Polish filmmakers Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, once a married couple whose personal and professional lives have long been intertwined, makes sense of their fashioning the narrative as a two-hander where Anna carries as much dramatic weight as Fyodor, if not more. The filmmaking duo, whose previous collaborations include “Never Gonna Snow Again” and “Infinite Storm,” largely based their tale on Andrew D.
Kaufman’s novel “The Gambler Wife: A True Story of Love, Risk and the Woman Who Saved Dostoyevsky.” Throughout the financial troubles that the couple face given Fyodor’s inability to deliver pages, Szumowska and Englert feature scatological humor that further dissolves any notions of elegance associated with 19th-century Europe. Instead, “The Idiot(s)” highlights the contrast between the palatial accommodations of the elite and the grimy apartments where Fyodor and Anna must reside while he attempts to complete the manuscript for “The Idiot.” The depravity of the aristocrats in the periphery comes off as deliciously cartoonish, likely because that’s how Fyodor perceives them. One of them in particular, portrayed with vicious snark by Vicky Krieps, revels in the moral decay of her times, thirsting for blood.
When Fyodor is asked by the rich to share a salacious personal anecdote for their entertainment, he takes the opportunity to tell a tale of class and sorrow that transfixes his audience. Not only does he showcase his storytelling prowess but simultaneously unmasks their out-of-touch mentality. In a visceral performance under a prominent beard, Flynn tackles Dostoevsky with an unabashed proclivity for debauchery and a lack of self-control that often render him a puddle of humiliation and desperation.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
