"The Gambler" 

by F.M. Dostoevsky in A. Batalov's screen adaptation

1. Introduction
There are a lot of film adaptations of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novels and about eleven
films excist for today. However, we chose only one to explore. This adaptaion was
filmed by soviet director Alexey Batalov in 1972. A magnificent film adaptation of the
novel of the same name by F. M.Dostoevsky, telling about the all-consuming passion
for gambling.
To begin with, “The Gambler” is a story about Alexey Ivanovich, a young tutor
working in the household of an Russian general. Alexey tries to break through the wall
of the conventional order in Russia, but instead becomes mired in betting and losing.
And every day this situation becomes more and more hopeless. His life depends entirely
on the mind-destroying game, a drug that can lead anyone into oblivion. All this is
perfectly displayed by Nikolai Burlyaev, who is certainly a world-class actor. It is
interesting that Dostoevsky himself was a very gambler, which is very much felt both in
the book and in the film. It seems that the main character of the work is Dostoevsky
himself. And in this regard, the director's idea fully justified itself.
2. Main part
 The analogy of actors with the characters of the novel (casting)
Nikolay Burlyaev played as Alexey Ivanovich. The main character of the novel became
for the actor one of the most difficult images with which Burlyaev had to deal. “I
understood that my life experience is not enough to play my peer, when this peer is the
hero of Dostoevsky" -- Burlyaev said.
Batalov agreed: "For a young man, such a role is an unbearable burden. Nevertheless,
we decided that Alexey Ivanovich will be played by his peer. Because I don't want to
lose in the film the passion and the real taste of youth, the beginning of life at all”.
In our opinion, the actor perfectly managed to reproduce his character. Alexey
Ivanovich performed by Nikolai Burlyaev, with his search and torment in life,
completely dependent on luck in the game, attracted the viewer. It was interesting to see
his behavior, demeanor, changes in facial expression You watch and wait from the very
beginning: when will it break? And this disruption occurs in the final scene with "heads
and tails", where the actor managed to acutely express the situation with a static and
terrible face, which caused us, as the audience, to grab Alexey Ivanovich by the collar
and kick him away, away from temptation. But nothing could stop this man.
Polina, a rebellious, tall, slender and incredibly beautiful young lady, was played by
Tatiana Ivanova. Polina appears as a symbol of a woman-red-haired, rebellious, existing
only to torment the hero, to attract and repel, because she drives others so crazy. This
character is based on Apollinaria Prokofievna Suslova, with whom Dostoevsky had a
painful relationships. But, as we think, Polina from the film is not like Polina from the
novel. The first one seems capricious and unnatural.
We thought about this question and came to the conclusion that the director had to write
the script in a certain way to make the film adaptation successful, and because of this,
Polina, as a character, changed a lot.
In the plot of the novel, there is another very important figure, this is the grandmother
performed by Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya, who is connected to if not everything, then very
much - a real unwavering stubborn, а Russian lady, so gambling and terribly silly, that
she is able to spend everything she has in a couple of days. The actress revealed this
image professionally and masterfully, showed Antonida’s personality with smallest
details such as facial expressions, gestures and intonation.
Also played well: Vsevolod Kuznetsov as General Zagoryansky, Itka Zelenogorskaya -
Mademoiselle Blanche, Vasily Livanov-the Marquis de Grillet, Alexander
Kaidanovsky-Mr. Astley.
The other actors are less well-known, but all are good.
 Music, setting, composition, camerawork.
We should pay special attention to general setting of the film. Roulettenburg, a city
where the action takes place, is a collective image of three cities: Wiesbaden, Baden-
Baden and Homburg. It is a beautiful European city with many parks, lovely streets and
homes. A lot of rich and famous people spend their time there. From the first bars of the
music, while the credits are still playing, you can already hear that Dostoevsky will be
there. And then you watch the whole movie without pauses. You plunge into this
atmosphere of Rouletenburg, where it is difficult for a normal person to breathe, and the
only pressure chamber is a gambling hall.
The idea of the director fully justified itself, in our opinion. Starting and finishing the
film with the very last scene of the book, Alexey Batalov showed the viewer more
clearly and obviously the whole inner and outer world of the main character, which, by
the way, turned out to be empty, as well as for any player. The whole world is a game,
and even feelings for a woman are permeated with it, so the object of Alexey
Ivanovich's slavish love cannot be reached and conquered.
There is another interesting moment. In the novel the story is narrated linearly, but
Batalov changed sequence of actions in his film. It started from the end when Alexey
already stuck in despair and addiction. He met Mr. Astley and they had a conversation
about everything that happened earlier. This narrative allowed us to focus on the main
character’s feelings. He still remembers everything, still loves Pauline and he is aware
of the frailty of his position, but he can't do anything about it.
In addition, the creators made a bold decision – to shoot the film on ashy and blurry
film, considering that smoothed and very realistic today's display can spoil not only the
authenticity of the image, but also the plot. As a result, the picture looks impressive and
aesthetic.
 Inference
To sum up, we would like to express our own opinion of Batalov's film adaptation. In
short, we really enjoyed watching it. We are still under the impression of this creation.
In the process of researching we learned how much efforts and time actors, directors
and screenwriters put in working on it. The creators took into account many details that
Dostoevsky put in his novel and brilliantly told the story. They were not afraid to
experiment with the picture and the plot and achieved an incredible effect. The cast,
music and scenery were perfectly chosen. We are glad that we have such an experience
and an opportunity to work on something unusual and complex such as Dostoevsky’s
novel called “The Gambler”.
And finally, we would like to say that watching such films helps to understand what
'roulette' can do to a person.