Soon. A word with multiple meanings. One of
them being one and a half years. To be fair, however, it's a fraction of the
amount of time spent between the release of the first and second parts of
Eisenstein's Ivan Grozniy: The first part I reviewed last May was released at
the tail end of the second world war (1944). This second part was released in
1958, despite having been finished in 1946, due to censorship issues. The
context in which this film is being shown is so significantly different to that
of the first that it needs to be touched upon.
Since 1944, the USSR defeated Germany in
May of 1945 and fought Japan in August of the same year. Following the collapse
of post-war discussions with the Western powers, the Warsaw Pact has been
established, the nuclear bomb tested by the USSR, Sputnik and Laika have been
put into space, and the iron curtain is put into place. China's civil war ends
in a surprise (to the international community) victory for Mao's CCP, and the
Korean War has taken place. Stalin dies in 1953, and after a vicious power
struggle for 3 years, a new premier, Kruschev finally emerges in 1956,
beginning a purge of Stalin's more sycophantic supporters such as Beria.
Hungary's attempt to establish democracy is ruthlessly crushed and the West silently
accepts it so as not endanger the growing thaw in the Cold War. The years of
McCarthy are over, and so international relations are at the nominal best until
the period of Detente in the 1970s.
TL;DR: This film was released so long after
the first that not only had the cold war started, but also thawed since then.
It is telling that this film could not be
released until 5 years after Stalin's death, since so much can be read into
Ivan the Terrible as an analogue of him, a man who used unbridled state terror
to crush his enemies within the country, whether imagined or not, and was
almost certainly insane- the man did murder his own son
(See this
picture here. It's so haunting I could spend all day staring into those eyes. )
Eisenstein's portrayal of Ivan was in fact
so unacceptable to Soviet Censors that not only was the second part not
released, but the third part that was entering production which would have
concluded the story of Ivan the Terrible's life was stopped and filmed scenes
were confiscated and destroyed after Eisenstein's death in 1948. It's a sad
note about such a fantastic series; because Eisenstein was not enough a
Stalinist sycophant, a fantastic piece of art was stopped dead in it's tracks,
a common theme with other great Soviet artists, composers and directors of the
era.
Nonetheless, this second part is notable
for it's incredible power, and even without being able to see the conclusion,
it is possible to see the slide of Ivan from a just and forward thinking ruler
into a bitter and cruel old man, and that makes Eisenstein's work shine all the
brighter.
We re-enter the world of Ivan Grozniy with
the same bombastic track by the great Prokofiev that opened the previous act,
along with the same title card.
Wait, wait, wait...
So the Boyars killed Ivan's wife and tried
to turn him mad in the previous part, and their conspiracy is only just
beginning? What was the last attempt then, a mild prank?
What follows is a series of clips from the
previous film with this menacing track overlaid.
You, sir, have a magnificent face. No
wonder you were the chained flagellant in the last part, your stare is incredible!
Needless to say, we are also reintroduced
to Ivan once more.
So, remember in the last film how there was
this prince serving Ivan with wine at the very beginning who went to a
monastery and we never saw him again?
Yep, that's him. Also, what the hell is it
with Russia and it's creepy looking monks?!
Following the conclusion of this summary,
the films opens in 1564...
...with a chess board. In actuality, the
court of King Sigismund II of Poland, which is where Prince Kurbsky, who fled
Russia in Ivan's hour of need, has come to pledge his allegiance.
After a gratuitously camp and innuendo
filled scene involving the kissing of the above sword and pointed staring,
these FABULOUS attendants enter to offer Sigismund the honour he intends to
bestow upon Kurbsky whilst admiring ladies of the court look on.
And look, it's everyone's favourite fourth
wall breaking ambassador of Livonia! I wonder what intriguing plot points and
information he will give away?
...Thanks Ambassador!
Kurbsky goes on to make a speech about how
the defeat of his troops in Nevel (part of the Livonian War) is a message for revolt in Russia, as the Tsar is clearly unable to rule, and
ran from the Boyars, to Alexandrova Slobodova, while the Boyars rule in his
stead in Moscow, and march on his 'Lair'. The boyars are ready to revolt, and
now is the time for Sigismund to act.
He does this while very subtly implying
that a new Tsar will be needed once Ivan is deposed, and who the logical choice
for that might be.
A gratuitous picture of blushing ladies of
the court hiding themselves with fans.
Sigismund then proclaims that Poland's duty
is to become a Fortress against the Moscow barbarian
and who's role is to keep him away
Absolutely no hints about Russia's troubled
future to come with Poland at all here folks, move along.
What follows is gossip around the court
about Muscovite barbarism
See, I don't understand why they're saying
this like it's a bad thing. Johnathan Swift would have said that the Russians
were ahead of their time...
Sigismund continues, mentioning Russia's
fertile lands, and that the Russian people will do as slaves.
What a novel reason for wanting to take
over Russia!
Sigismund declares that the time has come
for a new crusade to push the Russians into the Asiatic steppe, and Ivan's Russia
to be done away with. In response, the ladies of the court respond by crying
“Viva! Viva!”
Unfortunately for Sigismund's territorial
ambitions, Hellboy runs in to tell everyone that Ivan is returning to Moscow
Sigismund retires to his chambers to have a
manly cry with most of his attendants, while Kurbsky takes out his frustration
by kicking the messenger.
Unfortunately, this is the last we ever see
of Kurbsky or the rest of Sigismund's court, despite the fact that the Livonian
war would continue for a long, long time after this point. So we say goodbye to
Poland for the time being, and return to Moscow, where Ivan is now making his
return. He arrives triumphant before the Boyars, or, at least, as triumphantly
as an ominous figure as he can, backed by Malyuta and Basmanov's son.
He rounds on the Boyars with a vengeance,
calling them traitors and telling them that they shall rule lands as they
wanted... except that HE will be allotting what they rule. He will retain some
cities, specifically, those on the borders of Russia, so that he will be
responsible for the defence of the country.
Then, he makes this ominous statement.
He goes on to compare himself to God
creating Adam and Eve, instead that the fulfillers of his will be the
“Oprichine”. The prince turned monk, Fedor Kolychev, enters to declare that:
“Instead, it comes from the devil himself!”
Ivan greets Fedor like an old friend
instead of rising to the insult, before leading him aside for a quiet chat. The
boyars file out while the Oprichine remain to guard Ivan.
Ivan asks Fedor quietly why he criticises
him so, when they are such good friends. Fedor replies that his name is no
longer Fedor, but Godservant Filipp.
Ivan replies with a massive backstory dump
of a flashback. We start with this terrified looking child, the Young!Ivan,
Whose mother collapses through the door
screaming blue murder and poison before dying in the narmiest way possible.
Her final words are to beware the Boyars.
Guess he kinda took them to heart, huh?
He mentions how the Boyars gave away his
lands to foreigners when he was young, and we are treated to a scene where the
Boyars argue over whether the Hansa or Livonians should be granted a treaty
paying them for Russian ships crossing the baltic sea.
How did this glorious bastard sneak into
the scene?!
Young!Ivan is 7000% done with your shit,
and so is the icon behind him.
In fact, he's so done with the Boyars' shit
that he calls them out on it when they leave court.
The Boyars return his point with scorn and
laughter, then lie on his mother's death bed.
Young!Ivan returns the insult by having the
head Boyar taken away and given to huntsmen.
The Boyars leave, terrified, while Ivan
begins to plan being a Tsar on his own, without any Boyars, leading to his
resolution in the first scene of the previous film.
We end the flashback and return to the
current day, where Ivan proclaims that he is strong, but he has no friends.
He claims he doesn't fear for his life, but
he does fear for his cause.
After a short argument about the great
cause being to support the Boyars, Filipp turns to leave, but Ivan grabs his
robe and goes all whiny schoolboy on his ass.
He offers Filipp the chance to become the
Metropolitan of Moscow in return for being his friend. Filipp asks for the
right to intercede on behalf of those Ivan persecutes, and while Ivan at first
doesn't agree, he gives in eventually. They leave together in mutual
understanding.
The next scene begins with Malyuta
entering, questioning how Ivan can allow Filipp such control over him. Ivan
replies it is none of his business and calls him a dog. Malyuta seizes on the
metaphor, declaring that he might be a dog,
He goes on to say that Filipp is no better
than Kurbsky, prompting this delightful outburst.
Malytua continues, and Ivan responds by
kicking the dog, quite literally.
But even that doesn't stop Malyuta, and he
tells Ivan that he will do what he cannot, in his name.
Ivan is rather taken with this notion, and
agrees with Malyuta.
Malyuta then draws up his list to kill,
specifically, Filipp's own kinsmen.
He leaves, allowing Ivan to torture himself
about the moral quandry he has placed himself in.
Ivan runs from the throne room to his late
wife's room, to drink from a cup. Basmanov's son tells him not to, for some
cups are full of poison. Ivan realises the Tsarina was poisoned by his very own
hands, and the poison was given by Efrosina. Unbelieving one of his family
could do such a thing, he orders Basmanov's son to remain silent about his
suspicions, while outside, Filipp's relatives are led into a square and
decapitated by Malyuta.
The Tsar looks on in horror and has a guilt
BSOD moment...
...before the scene ends with him
whispering to himself: “Not enough!”
The next scene opens with the boyars
weeping before the wrapped bodies of Filipp's relatives, with archbishop Pimen
and Efrosina beseaching Filipp to excommunicate the Tsar.
Filipp declares (Yes, I use that word a
lot, but that's because there IS a lot of declaration!) that he will stand up
to the Tsar, for he is still a Boyar, and he will do so for all the Boyars, as
a duke of the church.
He says he will bring the Tsar before the
church and smash him.
The next scene opens with a suitably lavish
church, where the Boyars talk among themselves about the ongoing play,
involving an Angel saving three boys from Nebuchadnezzar's Chaldeans, a very
pointed comparisson to Ivan.
The Tsar arrives, reminding Malyuta and the
Basmanovs of their place, and demanding they do not touch his aunt. He then
enters the church, being granted the usual deference by the court.
As the court watches on in fascination,
Ivan bows before Filipp for recognition and listens to the play continue.
Filipp refuses to recognise the Tsar and Ivan rapidly grows angry, warning him
as follows:
In particular, notice the contrast between
Ivan and Filipp in this scene, something similar to the scene involving
Efrosina and the Tsarina in the last film.
As the argument continues, one of
Efrosina's relatives cries out from the audience “Is that the pagan Tsar?”.
After some pointed looks at Efrosina's idiot son, the penny drops for Ivan and
he knows that she did, indeed, poison his Tsarina. He cries out in front of the
entire ensemble that very well, he shall be what they call him:
The results of that decision are seen
immediately, as Efrosina returns home to tell everyone that Filipp has been
seized by the Tsar and will be executed. Efrosina resolves that there is only
one solution for the Boyars to be saved.
The Boyars discuss who should wield the
knife, and resolve on someone pure of heart, the young Peter Volynets, a young
man who has recently joined with the Boyars. Peter is declared dead and blessed
by Pimen.
As Peter prays for the deed to come, Pimen
and Efrosina discuss freeing Filipp. Pimen says he will be the chief judge, for
which Efrosina is initially happy since it surely means Filipp being saved, but
Pimen declares that he will be doomed to die, because the Boyars need a martyr.
Pimen leaves, while Efrosina passes
judgement on him. Rather harshly for a woman who poisoned her nephew's wife.
Efrosina's son, Vladimir asks why she urges
him to take power, (To which he has a claim, being Ivan's cousin) and clearly
looks terrified, so his mother sings him a lullaby. Yes, he is a giant
man-child.
The lullaby quickly turns into a nightmare
with his mother telling him rather unsubtly about a beaver being skinned
because Tsar Ivan wants a coat of fur. Her son cries. As she tells him the
harsh truth of what he must do (including having Peter executed once he becomes
Tsar), Vladimir, not unreasonably, freaks the hell out.
Suddenly, Malyuta enters to offer Efrosina
a cup of green wine, and to inform them that Ivan...
...to a feast in his chambers.
Efrosina tells Vladimir to go with Peter to
the feast then kisses him goodbye. As Vladimir leaves, she takes the cover off
the cup of wine to find that it's empty, and also the cup that she gave poison
to the Tsarina with.
Holy crap! Colour! Yes, indeed, this scene
was in fact filmed in colour to indicate it's importance and also the
transition that Ivan is currently undergoing. The end result is far more
sinister than one would expect.
A large troupe of Oprichine are dancing and
stamping around the dining tables for the Tsar, performing a complicated
routine.
Here we see Stali... I mean Ivan's fall
into debauchery.
BUNDLE!!!
Vladimir totally didn't just wake up.
Ivan gives Vladimir more to drink while
Basmanov berates him for having anything to do with Efrosina and the
Staritskys. Ivan responds rather cruelly towards his loyal commander.
What follows is a complicated tree analogy
which essentially sorts out the social heirachy of Russia:
Royal Family: “heavenly Tamarind tree”
Boyars: “Earthly Oaks”
Basmanov and the other upstarts: “wretched
Aspen woods”
Basically, Ivan kicks the dog really hard:
Basmanov asks if the Oprichine are not
Ivan's kinship. Ivan's response?
*having thrown Basmanov off the table*
This isn't foreboding at all.
And in this power-play, Basmanov becomes
the Kirov to Ivan's Stalin.
As Basmanov's son dances, the gathered Oprichine
begin to sing that the Boyars should listen to the song of their axes.
Another complicated dance number ensues.
But Basmanov's son realises something is
up. He sees Peter in the distance and asks his fellow Oprichine why he's there.
He looks to Ivan and Malyuta, who exchange
glances before Malyuta follows Peter, who exits.
Ivan keeps the completely hammered Vladimir
in conversation, gleaning that the Boyars want to replace him with Vladimir.
More symbolism as the Oprichine bring in swans
coloured black rather than white such as were seen during the wedding.
Ivan listens to his cousin drone on about
not wanting to be king, agreeing that there is nothing good in being a Tsar,
only hard work. Vladimir then tells him that his mother wanted him to wear the
crown and chain of the Tsar, when Ivan gets a terrible idea. (Ba-Dum-Tis!) He
agrees, why not, and orders the royal clothing to be brought forth.
The Oprichine garb Vladimir, and Ivan even
crowns him himself.
Vladimir is supremely pleased by all of
this.
Ivan sees Vladimir enjoying himself and
realises that he DOES have ambitions on the crown. Hearing church bells, he
orders everyone to stop their sinful dancing, and instead
The Oprichine grab candles and Ivan asks
Vladimir to show them the way to the church.
He does so, rather drunkenly, before
stumbling before the doorway, a little bit of common sense taking over. But,
with a little bit of persuasion from the Tsar...
We lapse into black and white once again as
Vladimir leads the way to the church with the procession following him, with
this marvellously sinister picture resulting.
“Seriously guys, this is the church. No
need to keep walking towards me, haha...”
He leads the procession onwards through the
church, and walks past a shadow that resolves itself into Malyuta, overlooking
the procession.
As Vladimir passes a fresco of Christ, he
opens his arms as if to mimic the image.
As he does so, Peter rushes out from behind
a pillar, and buries a knife into Vladimir's back.
Malyuta and Basmanov's son rush forwards
and grab Peter, holding him down and taking his knife.
Efrosina rushes in, shouting.
She proudly declares that now the beast is
dead, Russia will be ruled by the Boyar's Tsar, Vladimir!
oh.
Oh.
OH.
Insert piercing shriek here.
While Efrosina cries, Ivan asks Malyuta and
Basmanov's son why they're holding Peter.
After all, he didn't kill a Tsar,
So they let him go, and the Tsar bows
before Peter for killing an enemy of the Tsar.
Efrosina in the meantime goes full BSOD,
singing to her son's corpse.
The procession leave her behind, and swear
allegiance to the Tsar in front of the altar. Peter tries to come to terms with
what he's done. Ivan, too, reconciles what he's done with what he thinks he
must.
The scene changes to colour once again as
we see Ivan proclaiming that enemies of the Russian integrity have fallen in
Moscow that night. His speech creates an awe-inspiring and terrifying sight.
He swears that his sword shall be used
against all those . . .
And he utters his final statement as
Prokofiev's epic score concludes.
It's a moving conclusion to an epic duo of
films, and the slide from good to evil by Ivan is a terrible thing to witness.
It's unfortunate that Eisenstein never saw the second film released, nor
finished the third, but as the two films stand currently, they are both
testaments to his skill as a film-maker, and fantastic works of art. If you
have a hankering for some history, or want to watch two beautiful pieces of
cinematography, as I said at the end of the last review, I cannot recommend
Ivan Grozniy enough, there really is something for everyone.
Many thanks to Kay for putting up this
guest review. If you want, you can watch both films for yourself on youtube on
the Mosfilm channel (with English subtitles):
