Agony: The Life and Death of Rasputin

The “mad monk” Rasputin, whose influence over Czar Nicholas II was a factor in the revolution that toppled Romanoff rule in 1917, has been portrayed by actors such as John Barrymore, Christopher Lee, and Alan Rickman. But not even Barrymore's performance was as florid as Aleksei Petrenko's in this extravagantly overwrought but ghoulishly compelling epic directed by Elem Klimov, who died in 2003, after a rocky career in the Soviet Union. His highly expressionist style, reminiscent of Eisenstein's operatic flamboyance, was inimical to the canons of socialist realism, and his films were often recut or simply shelved by authorities. Agony was actually completed in 1975, but was withheld from circulation until 1984 and then shown in truncated form, although the reason had more to do with the fact that the orgy scenes were thought overly explicit and the portrayal of Nicholas by Anatoli Romashin was deemed too sympathetic for public consumption (he's treated as simply weak and inept rather than as a bloodthirsty monster). Now, Klimov's full 142-minute version is offered in a fine widescreen transfer, and its visual weirdness lends the film an almost hypnotic power, accentuated by a score that combines old recordings of pieces like “Dixieland” with new music by Alfred Schnittke. Intercutting archival footage with highly histrionic modern reconstructions, the picture depicts the calamitous events of 1916, when resentment over Russia's suffering during World War I finally led to revolution. Agony isn't by any means a great film, but it's often a fascinating one. DVD extras include an older interview with Klimov, a filmography; and a trailer for the director's 1985 World War II epic Come and See. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)