Director Mikhail Schweitzer, best known for the 1968 miniseries «The Golden Calf», had already adapted works by Gogol, Chekhov, and Pushkin. This time, he decided to bring a novella by Leo Tolstoy to the screen. You can watch online the movie «The Kreutzer Sonata»—a dramatic confession performed by Oleg Yankovsky. Known for his roles in «That Very Munchausen» and «Mirror», Yankovsky was uniquely able to portray the entire storm of passions through which the great Russian writer leads his hero. Alexander Trofimov, already known at the time for his role as Cardinal Richelieu, appears in this movie as a kind of confessor.
Pozdnyshev is traveling on a train and bares his soul to a chance fellow passenger. He tells him that he killed his wife because he could no longer live in marriage. His soul longed for true love, while society’s strict rules did not allow him to divorce. He was tried but acquitted. As they travel by train, the characters seem to pass through Pozdnyshev’s entire life.
