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FAR TOO MUCH cut of the original sound-track (itself one of the GREATEST recordings of all time - Rostropóvich's première recording of this opera absolutely deserves to be filmed in its entirety!!!). That degrades the film automatically by at least one full star!!! All the sexiness of the actress playing the rôle of the murderess-heroine Katjerína Ljvóvna Izmáylovna (and she really IS sexy!!!) can't make up for that HUGE FLAW. Furthermore, in this version, the English translation-text is FAR from mirroring the Russian original's meaning - in fact, it distorts and violates it repeatedly - and to boot, much of the time unnecessarily. That said, there is some beautifu cinematographic work on the part of Petr Weigl; particularly outstandingly handled is the famous sequence where Sjergjéy, the local rake (think Casanova) makes love for the first time with Katjerína (starting at 37:20 and going through 42:00, with the heart of it being 38:30 - 40:00). - it's this very portion that apparently made Iósif Vissariónovich Stáljin especially angry so as to ban it and ghost-write a viciously-scathing review in Pravda published on 1936/01/28 even though in that particular production that segment was severely toned down both visually and music-wise. [The especially-salacious part of Sjergjey's detumescence depicted by the trombone-glissandi (39:37), wonderfully tackled here, was cut in that production at Moscow's Boljshóy Theatre, while the aggressive orchestration of that entire sequence was significantly toned down. All this among a total of 50 alterations from the original text of the music which - with the exception of the cuts - is otherwise presented as Shostakóvich originally composed it.] [Here I'll mention the first time I saw this opera live: at Toronto's "O'Keefe Centre" (subsequently renamed "The Hummingbird Centre" Canadian première in late January / early February 1988 as presented by the Canadian Opera Company. In those days and with that company, a number of its productions including of this particular work were done so as to be completely faithful to all of the text not only of the music but also of what was expected relative to scenery (including sets, costumes, acting, &c.). Although the orchestra was undersized for this work, the overall presentation was more than amply successful and richly satisfying for this reviewer, who would have loved to see it more than once. No cuts, no shirking of controversial parts including the sex and the considerable physical violence which also is part and package of this opera. [Although this was done before the Weigl film (as far as I know), the lovemaking scene was presented much the same way (although the sequence of the sex-acts was different), without hiding anything of it. That was a WHOLE LOT MORE æsthetically satisfying and appealing compared to all the modernistic productions currently available on YouTube which either hide it entirely (Madrid, Novosibírsk) or mostly hide it with a few tantalising hints however (Amsterdam) that excite yet leave one even more frustrated both dramatically or musically.] Good work in so far as it goes - but it's a thousand pities that the ENTIRE opera wasn't filmed!!! How I'd have loved to see, for example, how Katjerína has to face down her father-in-law's ghost in Tableau V (Act II, Scene 2), his haranguing her in Act I or when Aksjíña whispers to Katjerína about just how dangerous Sjergjéy happens to be (again Act I) - and so much, much else... 3/5 (though the sex part is 5/5, while much of the rest of what's covered earns 4/5, though other parts are re-interpreted with much less justification). The cuts are far too many, too severe and too harmful to the rest of the story as to allow any higher a mark, sorry. [Now, if Herr Weigl or somebody else working in his manner would film the rest of the opera including all the rest of the music - in fact, some of it seriously requires remaking as it just is much too flawed....]

Beautiful inscenation! Thanks for posting!

@OSMFANful What facts or historical events have influenced you to form this opinion? Are you trying to belittle the suffering that the victim's of Stalin's rule endured? Are you trying to promote awareness of the suffering that the victim's of Hitler's rule endured, and if so, are you doing this because you believe the suffering that the victim's of Stalin's rule endured is inferior/irrelevant/insignificant/etc. in comparison to the suffering that the victims of Hitler's rule endured?