Gogol. The Beginning
| Gogol. The Beginning | |
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| Directed by | Egor Baranov |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | Ryan Otter |
| Cinematography | Sergei Trofimov |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Box office | $ 7,757,988 |
Gogol. The Beginning (Russian: Гоголь. Начало, translit. Gogol. Nachalo) is a 2017 Russian fantasy-horror film directed by Yegor Baranov loosely based on works by Nikolai Gogol from the collection Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka. The title role is played by Alexander Petrov.
Gogol. The Beginning is the first of three films of the project Gogol and the first Russian television series to have a theatrical release.[1]
Plot
Chapter One. Murders in Dikanka
Year 1829. Young Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol serves as a judicial clerk in the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery in St. Petersburg. During service, most often when murders occur, Gogol suffers seizures, throughout which he is pursued by strange visions, and in the unconscious state he writes seemingly meaningless words.
Suddenly, Gogol meets with the famous investigator Yakov Petrovich Guro, who immediately notes the unusual quality of the young clerk: his rambling records are valuable clues to the investigation and the murderer is revealed in the shortest possible time. In the evening of the same day, Gogol, overwhelmed by criticism and insecurity in his own talent, in tears and impotent rage burns all the purchased copies of his first work "Hanz Kühelgarten". The next morning Gogol is visited by Guro, who warmly supports him and advises him not to lose heart after his first failed attempt at writing, and also expresses his gratitude for the short cooperation. Guro is going to investigate the mysterious murders of girls in the Poltava province near the small village of Dikanka. Gogol, who had a vision of this at night, asks Guro to take him along as assistant and a clerk, since he comes from those places. Guro, sympathetic and intrigued by seizures-visions of the young man, easily gives his consent and they set out on their journey.
Arriving in Dikanka, Gogol and Guro begin an investigation. The murderer is described as the Dark Horseman, and the superstitious population is extremely reluctant to help the investigation from St. Petersburg, especially in the person of the local investigator Alexander Khristoforovich Binh. In the same place Gogol acquaints himself with the wife of landowner Danishevsky, Elisabeth, a fan of his creativity, towards whom he begins to feel (as he tries to convince himself) platonic emotions. He also gets acquainted with the landowner Danishevsky himself, a strange and mysterious man, living with his wife apart from Dikanka, despite a close neighborhood. During one of the visions of Gogol Oksana (as it turns out later, a rusalka) appears. In exchange for the help of Nikolai (to identify which of the rusalkas is actually a witch draining strength from drowned women) she promises to help him in the investigation. Meanwhile, to Guro's surprise and fury, it turns out that similar murders took place 30 years ago and nothing was done to uncover them.
During the next vision, Gogol manages to identify among the drowners the witch who turns out to be Hannah from an inn. In the morning Gogol and Guro find a hand at an abandoned mill (rusalkas, when tearing the witch apart, ripped off her hand). Gogol and Guro assume that they found the Horseman and rush to the inn where they discover Hanna; she does not have the hand that was found at the mill. The enraged witch easily copes with Guro, then attacks Gogol, but Binh kills her. The case is solved, and the two can return to St. Petersburg. But the night before the departure of Gogol in a dream is Oksana and tells him that the real killer is at large, and Hannah was only an accomplice. At this time, in a barn in the nearby shed, the Horseman fights with Yakov Petrovich Guro, the shed is collapsing, and everyone believes that Guro and the Dark Horseman died under his wreckage. However, the remains of the Rider are not found. Gogol decides to stay and finish the investigation himself.
At night, the Horseman comes to the grave of Hanna and resurrects her. The Witch begs the Horseman for forgiveness, speaking of Gogol's strange abilities, but the Horseman is deaf to her pleas. From the barn, where they hold Hanna's body, the witch's cry is heard.
Chapter Two. Red Scroll
A few days later in Dikanka there is a new murder: Baba Khavronya dies right on the date with the priest, her lover. He raves about a pig's head and a red scroll, the symbol of conjugal infidelity, which, according to the folk lore, the devil throws to the threshold. The murder was arranged as if the Dark Horseman had done it, but during the seizure Gogol paints a leaf of a linden ("linden" means a fake), and waking up quickly notices that the sign of the Horseman is drawn with an error. When a murder weapon is found in the house, the husband takes the blame on himself.
In Dikanka, Dr. Leopold Leopoldovich Bomgart comes to the aid of Gogol. A man of exclusively scientific mindset, he denies the existence of evil spirits. An autopsy shows that Baba Khavronya died not from a wound, but from a rupture of the heart because of the strongest fright. Her ghost begins to appear and threaten the stepdaughter Paraska, who will soon have a wedding. Gogol once again is tormented by visions about Oksana and Elizabeth: according to the former, in order to learn how to manage his gift, Nikolai must give up worldly attachments and, first of all, feelings to Liza.
Gogol finds the solution with the help of blacksmith Vakula and Dr. Bomgart: the candle bought by Paraska from the gypsies (which burned during the interview with Khavronya and the priest) is stuffed with ingredients that cause hallucinations - Gogol breathes a bit of smoke from this candle and sees one of his greatest fears: Pushkin mocking him, whose criticism of his work he is very afraid of. Realizing that the murderer is Paraska, who staged the devil's attack so that her stepmother would not stop her from getting married, Gogol exposes her, but she escapes into the forest. With the help of sorcery the ghost of Khavronya catches Paraska and gives her to the Horseman as a new sacrifice. Gogol, Yakim, Vakula and Dr. Bomgart try to catch up, and upon hearing her cry they want to help, but the way is blocked by the witchcraft of the ghost Khavronya. Only thanks to the candle, lit by Dr. Bomgart, the heroes manage to stop the witchcraft. But an unexpected event occurs: the ghost of Khavronya, once faced with Gogol, suddenly becomes terrified and howls "No, do not come near me! Dark one... " disappears, leaving Gogol and his friends in perplexity. But they do not have time to contemplate: Paraska is found dead in a boat by the river bank, and on the ground gleams the terrible symbol of the Dark Horseman.
The next morning at the inn, Gogol gathers Dr. Bomgart, the blacksmith Vakula and his servant Yakim, the only people whom he can trust in the whole of Dikanka; all three agree to help him in the fight against the terrible enemy. Unbeknownst to everyone in the old mirror appears smiling Oksana. It turns out that among the things of Yakov Petrovich Guro there was a trunk, which he ordered to give to Gogol in case of unforeseen circumstances. Vakula easily opens the lock of the chest, to which no one could find the key. When touching the lock Gogol gets a new vision: the next victim of the Dark Horseman can become Lisa. A smile disappears from Oksana's face, and she leaves.
The chapter and the first film ends with a scene, where Yakov Petrovich Guro, who seemingly died in a fire, observes the village of Dikanka while standing on a cliff.
Cast
- Alexander Petrov — Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol
- Oleg Menshikov — investigator Yakov Petrovich Guro
- Yevgeny Stychkin — head of the police department, Alexander Khristoforovich Binh
- Taisia Vilkova — Elizaveta (Lisa) Danishevskaya
- Artyom Tkachenko — Alexey Danishevsky
- Julia Franz — daughter of the miller, Oksana
- Yevgeny Sytiy— servant of Gogol, Yakim
- Jan Tzapnik — doctor-pathologist Leopold Leopoldovich Bomgart
- Sergey Badyuk — blacksmith Vakula
- Martha Timofeeva — daughter of the blacksmith Vakula Vasilina
- Valery Rybin — Dark Horseman
- Ksenia Razina — Ulyana
- Svetlana Kireeva — Khristina
- Valery Sklyarov — coachman Nicephorus
- Artyom Suchkov — scribe Tesak
- Yevgeny Kapitonov — Father Bartholomew
- Pavel Derevyanko — Alexander Pushkin
- Kirill Polukhin — Basavryuk
- Dmitry Bykovsky-Romashov — Solopiy Cherevik
- Askar Nigamedzyanov — Mikhail Lermontov
- Anvar Libabov — the noseless
- Yulia Marchenko — Gogol's mother, Maria Hohol-Yanovskaya
- Andrey Astrakhantsev — Gogol's father, Vasyl Hohol-Yanovsky
- Gennady Smirnov — Manilov
- Vitaly Kovalenko — investigator Kovleiskiy
- Beata Makovsky — Khavronya
Production
Filming took place in 2016 in the Pskov region and St. Petersburg, where the set of the village of Dikanka was created.[2]
"Gogol. The Beginning" was produced by Alexander Tsekalo's Sreda Production Company, the general director of TV-3 Valery Fyodorovich, the general producer of TV-3 Yevgeny Nikishov (at that time Fedorovich and Nikishov were the producers of TNT) and Artur Janibekyan. The production of one series of "Gogol" cost about 29 000 000 rubles,[3] while the fees of the first part of the film series amounted to 444,485,278 rubles.[4]
Sequels
The film Gogol. Viy was released on April 5, 2018,[5] Gogol. Terrible Revenge will be released on August 30, 2018. Then the three films will be divided into six series, which in 2018 together with the final 2-part film Gogol. Enchanted Place will be shown on the TV channel TV-3.[6]
References
- ↑ "Телеканал ТВ-3 покажет телесериал «Гоголь» сначала в кинотеатрах, а лишь потом на телеэкране". Vedomosti.
- ↑ "Дом с привидениями и Диканька в Псковской области: где и как снимали сериал «Гоголь»". TASS.
- ↑ "Телеканал ТВ-3 покажет телесериал «Гоголь» сначала в кинотеатрах, а лишь потом на телеэкране". Vedomosti. 2017-02-22.
- ↑ "Гоголь. Начало". kinometro.
- ↑ "Продолжения «Гоголя» в кино выйдут только в 2018 году". kinometro.
- ↑ "Сериал о Гоголе собрал за первые выходные в четыре раза больше своего бюджета". Vedomosti.