''Chagall — Malevich'' () is a 2014 Russian

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Alexander Mitta Alexander Naumovich Mitta (; born 28 March 1933 in Moscow) is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter and actor. Mitta's birth name was Alexander Naumovich Rabinovich (). He studied engineering (graduated in 1955), then wor ...

about the

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

period in the life of the artist

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

and his relationship with fellow artist

Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (

. The film was released on April 3, 2014. It is the last film directed by Alexander Mitta. It also showed at the 2014

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held fro ...

Plot

The film focuses on Marc Chagall's early years in Soviet Russia, specifically during his time in Vitebsk, where he takes the first significant steps in his artistic career. After returning to his hometown, Chagall establishes an art academy and a museum that houses one of the finest collections of Russian avant-garde art. In an effort to elevate the art scene, he invites Kazimir Malevich, the creator of Black Square, to teach at the school, despite Malevich’s struggles with hunger in Petrograd, marking the beginning of their complex relationship. Their initial friendship gradually evolves into creative rivalry, which eventually escalates into intense animosity. Chagall's vision of artistic harmony faces resistance not only from the political environment and social unrest of the time but also from personal betrayals. As he navigates these challenges, his work and relationships, particularly with his wife Bella, become crucial to his perseverance. Meanwhile, Malevich’s growing estrangement and the intensifying tensions between the two artists reflect the broader turmoil of the period.

Cast

* Leonid Bichevin -

*Christina Schneider - Bella Rosenfeld, wife of Chagall * Anatoliy Beliy as

Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (

*Semyon Shkalikov - Naum * Dmitry Astrakhan - Rebbe Aizik, rabbi *Alexey Ovsyannikov - Zheleznyak *Jacob Levda - Leva, student of Chagall * Sergey Migitsko - Israel Vulfovich Vishnyak *Tatyana Likhacheva - Vishnyak's wife *Semyon Mendelssohn -

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

*Vasily Ruksha -

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...

Reception

''Chagall-Malevich'' has an approval rating of 20% on

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website

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, based on 10 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".https://www.metacritic.com/movie/chagall-malevich?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c

References

External links

* 2014 films 2010s Russian films 2010s Russian-language films 2014 biographical drama films 2010s historical drama films Russian biographical drama films Biographical films about painters Russian historical drama films Films directed by Alexander Mitta Russian-language biographical drama films Russian-language historical drama films {{2010s-Russia-film-stub