L’Idiot (1946)

L’Idiot is a French romantic film drama first released in 1946, directed by Georges Lampin.  The film is based on a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and stars Edwige Feuillère, Lucien Coëdel, Jean Debucourt, Sylvie and Gérard Philipe.  It has also been released under the title: The Idiot.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


After a long stay in Switzerland, where he has been receiving treatment for epilepsy, a Russian prince, Muychkine, returns to Saint Petersburg.  Impoverished and alone, the only person he can turn to is his distant relative, General Epantchine.  The latter is presently preoccupied with his daughter Aglaé’s imminent marriage to the wealthy Totsky – the main worry being that Totsky has a mistress, the beautiful Nastasia Philipovna.  The sensitive Muychkine is emotionally drawn to Aglaé but Nastasia provides an even greater fascination.  He offers to marry Nastasia, but she refuses, and decides to sell herself to the man who offers her the most money.  Her buyer is the uncouth and violent merchant, Rogogine...

An exceptional cast, a well-honed script and some impressive production values make this one of the best screen adaptations of the celebrated Dostoyevsky novel "The Idiot".  This was the first film to be directed by Georges Lampin, a French director of Russian birth, who made only a dozen films, the most famous of which is another Dostoyevsky adaptation, Crime et châtiment (1956), which starred Jean Gabin and Robert Hossein.

This film achieves a pretty drastic compression of Dostoyevsky’s novel, dispensing with virtually everything except the most interesting part, the tempestuous love quartet involving Muichkine, Aglaé, Nastasia and Rogogine.  The focus of the story is Nastasia, a passionate woman who is torn between the high-minded ideals of Muichkine and the baser instincts of Rogogine, the two men reflecting the two conflicting sides of her character.

In only his third film appearance, Gérard Philipe has established himself as a screen actor of immense talent, and the part of Muychkine, the man who can see no bad in the world, is an ideal match to his unworldly romantic persona.  Edwige Feuillère gives an arresting performance as Nastasia, and Lucien Coëdel brings a brooding intensity to his portrayal of the villainous Rogogine.

What is most striking about this film is its dreamlike chiaroscuro photography.  The shadowy interiors, redolent of classic film noir, suggest oppression and the dark world of human vice that Muichkine seems to be incapable of seeing, whilst the sun-drenched exteriors evoke man’s better side, of selfless compassion.  This contrast of styles effectively mirrors the opposite natures of Aglaé and Nastasia, between whom Muichkine, the childlike idealist who sees only good, is unable to choose.

© James Travers 2008

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