Resurrezione (2001)
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Directors
Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Cast
Stefania Rocca, Timothy Peach, Marie Bäumer, Cécile Bois, Eva Christian, Giulia Lazzarini, Sonia Gessner, Vania Vilers, Marina Vlady, Michele Melega, Antonella Ponziani, Giulio Scarpati, Vladimír Javorský, Daniela Bakerova, Jan Hrabeta
A prince confronted by the consequences of his past tries to overturn the hard-labor sentence of a woman he once abandoned.
The story
At the end of the nineteenth century, Prince Dimitri Nechljudov lives comfortably within his privileged class, largely untroubled by its injustices. Serving as a juror in a theft-and-murder trial, he recognizes Katjusa Maslova, a former ward of his aunts whom he seduced and abandoned years earlier. The jury agrees to acquit her, but an omitted phrase in its verdict instead results in a sentence of several years of hard labor. Believing his past actions helped bring her to this point, Dimitri resolves to fight the sentence. Despite opposition from his friends, sister, and polite society, he leaves his wealthy fiancée and hires a lawyer to appeal.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
At the end of the nineteenth century, Prince Dimitri Nechljudov lives the carefree life of his class, without questioning the injustices of his time. Appointed as a juror in a trial for the theft and murder of a wealthy merchant, he recognizes among the defendants Katjusa Maslova, a former ward of his aunts, whom he had cynically seduced and abandoned in his youth. After becoming pregnant, the young woman was turned out by her benefactresses; having lost her newborn baby and unsuccessfully tried to find work, she took up prostitution, becoming further degraded by alcohol and smoking. From the outset, it is clear that the real culprits behind the theft and murder are the other two defendants—the maid and the doorman at the hotel where the merchant was staying—and that Maslova was implicated so she could be used as a scapegoat. The jury therefore agrees on a verdict convicting the two and acquitting Maslova, but the jurors forget to include a crucial phrase in the verdict: Maslova is consequently sentenced to several years of hard labor. Feeling solely responsible for Katjusa’s fate (he believes that his act all those years ago drove her into depravity), Dimitri decides to fight for her. Against the advice of his friends and sister, and with the disapproval of polite society, he leaves his wealthy fiancée, sells off his properties in Saint Petersburg (though his attempt to give his estates to the peasants who farm them fails), and hires the best lawyer to appeal for the sentence to be overturned. He also renews his relationship with Katjusa in prison and proposes marriage to her. For the time being, she refuses, believing that his proposal is motivated more by pity than love, though it is clear that she still has feelings for the prince. The appeal produces no results, and Katjusa must therefore leave for Siberia. Dimitri chooses to follow her there, traveling on the same train. But there Katjusa meets Simonson, a political prisoner, and begins to develop feelings for him. At the end of the journey, both protagonists will experience a personal “resurrection”: she by finally choosing Simonson’s love, and he through faith, which will help him recognize the injustices of the world and change himself so that he can fight against them.
Genres
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