Writing
A governor of Tsarist Russia throws a punch at striking workers. Many die as the governor looks on dutifully. From that moment on, he feels he has sinned against the people and expects to be killed too. Despite all the precautions taken by the chief of police, the governor cannot escape his fate, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth - the principle of talio is fulfilled.
Judas, a seasoned thief, finds himself in the market square where Christ is giving a sermon and his apostles are collecting alms. He follows them and steals their money, only to be caught red-handed. Nevertheless, the Teacher forgives him. What is more, He invites the thief to become one of His followers and offers him a position as the group’s treasurer. Shocked by Christ’s unexpected offer, Judas decides to join the apostles, if only to figure out what is going on. He gradually starts to comprehend Christ’s message, but feels that the apostles are blindly following their teacher. Judas argues with them, and tries to defend his right to divine the truth of God. But when he fails to make them understand, he realizes that Christ’s teachings may sink into oblivion without benefiting humanity. His solution is to betray Christ. “By killing a man, have I not saved a God?”
Based on the story “The Abyss” by Leonid Andreev. A young couple spends the day on a walk, enjoying the timid feeling of falling in love for the first time. However, the heroes walk too long. The road home goes through a dark and ominous forest. Romantic feelings fade when the couple encounters the instincts of love and destruction in the face of three tramps in the forest. The fatal “meeting” and the fall into the abyss of the unknown reveal the secret desires of the main character, who discovers a dark beginning in himself and makes a fatal choice.
In 1902 in St. Petersburg, Russia, loner scientist Anton Kerzhentsevi studies primates. He's attracted to Tatyana, his friend Alexis' wife. As Anton slowly goes mad, he starts planning on how to kill his friend and get away with it.
No description available.
After a baron steals his scientific discoveries, runs away with his wife, and slaps him in public, a man joins a Parisian circus sideshow as a clown whose act consists of being slapped repeatedly and becomes infatuated with a showgirl colleague whose father intends to marry her off to the baron.
Based on the short story by Leonid Andreev "Ivan Ivanovich". A Perestroika look at the events that took place after the 1905 Revolution. The young defender of the barricades shows weakness and releases the captured gendarme. After a while, he is not spared in a similar situation.
Four friends travel in a car to an unknown destination. Where are they going and why?
A demon, sick of sin's monotony, asks a priest for instructions on how to become good. Based on the motives of L. Andreev's story The Rules of Kindness.
Seven people waiting for their death. A group of assasins - three men and two women - and Gypsy thief spend their time in prison to be tucked up.
Carlos goes to visit his girlfriend Juana at the asylum where she works. Once there, the director introduces him to his niece, who is obsessed with playing the harp, and to a nurse who repeats word for word what Carlos says.
A student is walking through the forest with his beloved. It gradually gets dark, and they realize they are lost. They wander for a long time trying to find their way. Strangers appear and attack the young man, while the girl manages to run away into the forest.
The film is based on the story by L. Andreev "The Life of Vasily of Thebes" about the fate of the village priest Vasily, who, after going through a great many misfortunes, renounces God in order to regain his true faith through even greater grief.
A woman refuses to take an oath before the christian cross.
Ivan Savonsky, popular society artist, meets Olga Kartoff, a young woman high in social circles, and while she is instantly attracted by him, he sees in her only the perfect model for his picture, "The Dagger Woman." Studying her, and by carefully playing on her emotions he gains her confidence, and afterward she consents to pose for him. The picture completed, she is grieved and then angered to discover that Ivan's interest rests solely in it, and how it will fare at the exhibition. She pleads with him in vain. The picture is pronounced a masterpiece, and Ivan is in his triumph as he returns to his studio. Here Olga has secreted herself. Humiliated by the reports circulated regarding herself and the artist, and unable longer to bear his disinterest she plunges a dagger to his heart and kills him.
The film is based on The Governor, a play by Leonid Andreyev. V.I. Kachalov plays the governor of a small Russian province who tries to treat the people under his authority with kindness and equanimity. But when a local factory goes on strike, the governor buckles under to pressure from the Tzar and orders the wholesale slaughter of the strikers. He pays for this betrayal of his trust with his life -- at the hands of a courageous Bolshevik spy.
Anthology movie, three cynical "contes cruels."
