Crime and Punishment

This is truly the greatest film adaptation of Dostoevsky’s classic, Crime and Punishment, there is.

Directed by Lev Kulidzhanov and starring the film legend, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, this adaptation will delight connoisseurs of Russian culture and the casual viewer alike!

Here’s a brief synopsis – with spoilers!

Raskolnikov, an impoverished former law student, kills an old pawnbroker and her sister. Maybe he does it for money, maybe he does it just to prove he’s above the law.

No matter, he soon becomes a prime suspect in the case led by the clever investigator, Porfiry Petrovitch. In a swirl of events, Raskolnikov’s mother and sister come to town. As do two older men seeking his sister’s hand in marriage. Soon thereafter, Raskolnikov falls in love with a young prostitute who urges him to confess.

• 1970s
• English subtitles
• Russian Literature
• Soviet Union