Actualization of the Epilogue of the Novel Crime and Punishment in Cinematic Transformations

Abstract

The article deals with the transformations of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, with an emphasis on the actualization of the epilogue of the novel in the cinema, from the beginning of the 20th to the beginning of the 21st century. The research focuses on films that are of significant importance for the ‘spirit of the time’ of their era, and, at the same time, that most actively participated in the creation of the cultural phenomenon of Raskolnikov’s transmedial metatext. The analysis reveals the dialogism of film authors in reference to the epilogue, which, in the researcher’s opinion, contains the ‘original message’ of the novel. Several variants of screen interpretations of the epilogue of Crime and Punishment are here analyzed. A first option is when the author develops Dostoevsky’s ideas, so the hero abandons the idea of ‘having right’ and ‘permissiveness’ and evolutes to a new worldview (Raskolnikov by Robert Wiene, Crime and Punishment by Joseph von Stenberg and Georges Lampen, Pickpocket by Robert Bresson). A second option is when the hero remains fixed on his idea and the correctness of his own convictions, however he goes to surrender (Crime and Punishment by Lev Kulidzhanov and Aki Kaurismyaki). A third option means that the hero insists on his ideological platform, but the authorities punish him (Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless). A fourth option is when the hero does not surrender to the police, does not confess the crime, and continues to live in his usual way (Silent Pages by Alexander Sokurov and Match Point by Woody Allen). A fifth option means that the hero does not hide from the law and continues to be a part of the existing social system (Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese, Nina by Heitor Dhalia).

Keywords

• dostoevsky
• crime and punishment
• epilogue
• transformation
• actualization
• transmediality
• cinematography
• raskolnikov’s metatext
• dialogism