| The Master and Margarita | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Mikhail Bulgakov (Novel) |
| Starring | Anastasiya Vertinskaya Viktor Rakov Valentin Gaft Sergey Garmash Mikhail Ulyanov Aleksandr Filippenko Viktor Pavlov Nikolay Burlyayev Vyatsheslav Shalevich Vladimir Steklov |
| Country of origin | Russia |
| Language(s) | Russian |
| Production | |
| Running time | 205 minutes |
The Master and Margarita (Мастер и Маргарита) is a Russian film made by director Yuri Kara, based on the novel The Master and Margarita written by the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov.
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Although the film was made in 1994, it was only premiered in the Russian cinemas on April 4, 2011. Despite having the highest budget for that time spent on a Russian film and the impressive cast with the most famous Russian actors, the producers decided not to release it. According to them, Yuri Kara's director's cut was unacceptable. The soundtrack recorded by Alfred Schnittke was released on CD though.
In 2005, when journalist Valeriy Kitshin of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta saw the film in a private screening at the Moscow International Film Festival, he tried to convince the producers to release it. He almost succeeded when there appeared a new obstacle in the person of Sergey Shilovsky, the grandson of Mikhail Bulgakov's third wife Elena Sergeevna. Shilovsky claimed to have the copyright on Bulgakov's literary inheritance, and wanted to be paid for it. It was difficult to find an agreement, and Shilovsky sold the rights to producer Scott Steindorff of the Stone Village Productions company, and director Baz Luhrmann (Romeo+Juliet, Moulin Rouge) is assigned to have a film ready by 2012.
On November 15, 2010, the Russian film distributor Luxor announced out of the blue that they had bought the rights on Kara's film, and that it would be released in March 2011. Eventually, it was on April 4, 2011.
The film shown in the cinema theatres is 118 minutes long. The original director's cut, which circulates on bootleg disks of low image quality, is 205 minutes long.
The film is an adaptation of the novel The Master and Margarita written by the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov. Three storylines are interwoven.
Some scenes and characters from the novel are not included in this film, or are presented differently. Moreover, Yuri Kara introduces some characters that do not occur in the novel.
01. Meister und Margarita I - 1:47
02. Voland - 2:26
03. Foxtrot - 1:04
04. Tango - 0:59
05. Marche Funebre - 1:12
06. Boléro (*) - 15:00
07. Meister und Margarita II - 1:50
Total time: 24 min. All tracks composed by Alfred Schnittke, except :
(*) Maurice Ravel - Boléro, one-movement ballet
To be expected: