''Stalin's Funeral'' (russian: Похороны Сталина, Pokhorony Stalina) is a 1990
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
drama film written and directed by the famous poet,
Yevgeni Yevtushenko
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko ( rus, links=no, 1=Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Евтуше́нко; 18 July 1933 – 1 April 2017) was a Soviet and Russian poet. He was also a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, ...
. The film stars the British actress,
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...
.
Plot
1953, USSR. Moscow bids farewell to
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
. In the funeral crowd, Zhenya gets acquainted with Eli. Over the long hours spent in the funeral procession, they had time to learn a lot about each other, but Elya absurdly dies. So Zhenya begins another, adult, life.
Cast
*
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...
as English journalist
*Denis Konstantinov as Zhenya
* Marina Kalinichenko as Elya
* Aleksey Batalov as Zhenya's father
*
Georgi Yumatov
Georgi Aleksandrovich Yumatov ( rus, Гeopгий Алeксандpoвич Юматов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj jʊˈmatəf; 11 March 1926 – 6 October 1997) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He appeared in 72 films between 1946 and 1994. He ...
as Stalin's guard
*
Yevgeni Yevtushenko
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko ( rus, links=no, 1=Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Евтуше́нко; 18 July 1933 – 1 April 2017) was a Soviet and Russian poet. He was also a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, ...
as Sculptor
*Yevgeni Platokhin as Bald
*
Savva Kulish
Savva Yakovlevich Kulish (russian: Са́вва Я́ковлевич Кули́ш; 17 October 1936 – 9 June 2001) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed eight films between 1966 and 1994. His 1979 film ''Takeoff'' won the ...
as Frenchman
*
Vsevolod Larionov
Vsevolod Dmitriyevich Larionov (russian: Всеволод Дмитриевич Ларионов; September 11, 1928 in Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union – October 8, 2000Maya Bulgakova as Stalin's wife
* Svetlana Kharitonova as Zhenya's aunt
*
Mikhail Zhigalov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Zhigalov (russian: Михаил Васильeвич Жигалов; born May 2, 1942) is a Soviet and Russian actor of the Moscow Sovremennik Theatre and cinema. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1991).Указ Президиума ...
as working
*
Valentin Nikulin
Valentin Yuryevich Nikulin (russian: Валенти́н Ю́рьевич Нику́лин; 7 July 1932, Moscow — 6 August 2005, Moscow) was a Soviet, Russian and Israeli theater and film actor.
Nikulin was born in the family of the playwright ...
as neighbor
*
Galina Stakhanova
Galina Konstantinovna Stakhanova (russian: Гали́на Константи́новна Стаха́нова; born October 12, 1940 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR) is a Soviet and Russian actress of theater and cinema.
Biography
Galina Stakhanova was b ...
Sergey Bezrukov
Sergey Vitalyevich Bezrukov (russian: link=no, Серге́й Вита́льевич Безру́ков, born 18 October 1973) is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor, singer, People's Artist of Russia, the laureate of the State Prize of th ...
(episode)
Production
Yevtushenko's was more critical of
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
's crimes by the time of production and he also sought to emphasise his generation's rejection of Stalinism; "If one is to speak about Stalinism, then we are still digging down to the roots of the poisonous tree of totalitarianism, of which Stalin was the gardener. But this film is not about the roots and not about the gardener but rather about the green shoots sprouting in the evil shade of that tree and yet straining toward the light - about our generation."