Boris Godunov (1989)

Given the heightened, very theatrical elements of his films, its a curious thing why Andrzej Zulawski never directed for the theater. The theater makes several appearances throughout Zulawski's filmography, at times even playing a major part in the story. In Zulawski's second feature Diabel (1972), the protagonist encounters an eccentric traveling theater troupe performing Shakespeare's Hamlet and the Bard factors in prominently in L'important c'est d'aimer (1975), where Romy Schneider finds herself in a particularity histrionic take on Richard III with Klaus Kinski as the star/director. Although inspired by Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot, Anton Chekov's play The Seagull takes precedent in L'amour braque (1985), culminating in an maniacal reading from Sophie Marceau. A major theatrical comparison is often drawn between Zulawski and Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski, who's intense acting training methods, known as the “Stanislavski system”, one of the earliest forms of method acting, where performers are pushed to the brink both mentally and psychically in order to ensure the most honest performance, was a method Zulawski often employed, perhaps most infamously with Isabelle Adjani in Possession (1981) and Iwona Petry in Szamanka (1996). It was only appropriate that in 1989, Zulawski turned to the stage, the opera to be prescience, with Boris Godunov, an adaptation of both the play by Alexander Pushkin and the opera by Modest Mussorgsky, an unusual film even by Zulawski standards and his most underseen film.

Following the death of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, the chamberlain to the former leader, is appointed to the role of Czar. Although highly popular with the Russian people, Godunov's reign is wrought with both political and personal difficulties including a monk who claims that he is in fact Dmitriy Ivanovich, the dead son of Ivan and rightful heir to the throne who sets out on a campaign to overtake Russia with Marina, an ambitious princess. Godunov's inner circle is also plotting against him at the behest of Prince Shuyskiy, a power hungry adviser to the Czar. Worse yet, Godunov is plagued with visions of the ghost of a dead child, a child Godunov was rumored to have murdered, a rumor Shuyskiy is quick to use to his advantage.

Perhaps second only to Zulawski's On the Silver Globe (1977/88) in terms of ambition and scope, Boris Godunov is certainly a strange beast. While faithful to both the play and the opera which its based, not to mention the history of its source material, the film is still a quintessential Zulawski film, loaded with Zulawski's defining peculiarities so even if the film hadn't been an adaptation it would still make complete sense in the context of Zulawski's overall cannon. While there is quite a bit to unpack story wise, and its inevitable that many will get lost along the way, the film is a great example of when getting lost isn't necessarily a bad thing. Although some of the plot points that might take multiple viewings to fully digest are incredibly important, this is again a Zulawski film and like the rest of his output, the amplified emotion of the film strikes just as big a subconscious chord and the film is easy to get lost in anyhow considering the music, which is nothing short of mesmerizing as are the lavish sets and costumes. Among the films many curiosities are a few comedic bits involving food which Zulawski would repeat again in his follow-up film La note bleue (1991), but perhaps the most fascinating are the instances of explicit fourth wall breaking with Zulawski fully embracing the artifice, pulling the camera back revealing the action being performed on stage, showing the audience and the orchestra and simultaneously the filming of his own movie. 

An interesting moment early on the in the film sees a guard dressed in modern Soviet military garb appear in the midst of the period setting and given that the film was made in 1989, a year which saw several revolutions put an end to communist oppression in many eastern European countries, its not a stretch to speculate Zulawski drawing a parallel between the historical events of the story and what was happening throughout the world at the time of shooting. Its also important to note that the film features Mussorgsky's original score from the opera (naturally shorted due to time constraints) which is a rare occurrence in performances of the opera with a revised score written in 1872. In fact, the opera as a whole has been re-written several times since its original incarnation with performances of both versions prepared by Mussorgsky being scarce and as things of this nature normally go, the originality of Mussorgsky's initial score, which for whatever reason was thought to need “corrections”, hence all the revisions, is now considered highly innovative. Funny and more that a bit frustrating to think how Pushkin's original play, which fascinatingly was barred from actual performance until 35 years after its initial publication, ultimately became his most well known work while Zulawski's film remains his most obscure when it should in fact be recognized for the brilliant, singular achievement that it is.