AllMovie

Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's autobiographical novel recounting his youthful dallies with socialism -- which led to his near-execution and exile in Siberia -- Myortvy Dom revolves around the question of rebelling against the myriad injustices of imperial tyranny versus submitting to God's will. Starring Nikolai Khmelyov as Dostoyevsky, the film received an overwhelmingly negative reception when it was first released in 1932; faulted for sentimentalism and formalism, it was also attacked for failing to show sufficient antipathy towards its subject, who held a place on the Revolution's blacklist. Re-released many years later, it earned acclaim for d.p. Vasili Pronin's bleak, striking visuals and Khmelyov's astounding central performance.