Ivan the Terrible, Part I : Sergei Eisenstein

 At first impression I had thought Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible: Part I [1944] is devoid of Russian formalism, but at the end I have found a very diverse strain of formalism not about cinematic technical elements and principles but in the compact narrative structure and measured acting expressions. However, I have missed the adventure and suspense of Eisenesque montages.

 

The whole screenplay had been tightly structured, in my observation, by seven long sequences to briefly reflect the core part of Tsar [Czar] Ivan of united Russia from 1547 to 1565. All of the sequences conveyed structurally according to my reflective understanding a similar concept of breaking apart the personal relationships for the unifying the public associations.

 

[I] The Coronation:

Ivan’s ascending to the Moscow crown had awakened the fault lines of boyars [the aristocratic community who indirectly run the monarch, more like a shadow collective ruler] and his aunt, Efrosinia of Staritsa, over her son Vladimir. I have found a structural resemblance of the incident of Ghaseti Begum who did the same chronic conspiracy with  Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah in Khan Ataur Rahman's Nawab Sirajuddaula [1967]. Unfortunately, Ivan united the disjointed Russia, Siraj disjointed the united India to the European empire.

 

[II] The Marriage:

Ivan’s marriage with Tsarina Anastasia put an end to the friendship with Prince Andrei Kurbsky and Fyodor Kolychev. One got caught into the dubious situation either he would be loyal to Ivan or greedy to power; the other turned into a monk and left the Tsardom and changed his name into Phillip.

 

[III] The Kazan War:

Ivan achieved the great victory over Kazan with the donation of boyars and Czar’s army that uplift his majesty and the prospect of building up the Russian empire from feudal Russia. I got a brief clarification about Kazan and Tatar and their linkage to Mongol Empire and Ottoman Empire. I am very interested in the word Kazan. Because I was planning to start with Elia Kazan’s film oeuvre from Hollywood classic.

 

[IV] The Sacrament & Loyalty: It is so pathetic to attend the commendation of the dying, it is also a practice in the Muslim like other Abrahamic religions. I had to vigil for the scarcement of my maternal granny back in 2018 and observed so many in my neighbors.

 

 Andrei Kurbsky’s allegiance to the legal heir of the Tsar crown is the most enchanting and moving I have seen in a movie. The composition of his decision-making scene sitting in between Anastasia, the good and Efrosinia, the evil. The scenes bear a deep symbolic meaning with the actors’ facial expression, movements, costume colors and texture and asymmetrical composition and framing.

 

[V] The Great Loss of Lavonia & Anastasia:

Ivan's army lost the battles one by one and the most terrible and depressing one when Kurbsky surrendered to Lavonia. On the other hand, Anastasia was poisoned by Efrosinia, Ivan just experienced both the external loyalty and internal closeness completely. In this sequence, I notice Ivan’s psychological strengths and weaknesses simultaneously that made him Ivan the Terrible.

 

[VI] The Creation of Oprichnina: Oprichnina is an embodiment of the state's failure to hold the public trust in tight-knot. Ivan’s desolation for lack of trust and friendship bound him to form the political police.

 

[VII] The Exodus: The sequence of Ivan’s great departure from Moscow is one of the most stunning ones consisting of some grand and imitable frames of scenes in the cinema archives. The frame of close headshot and long landscape shot marching the migrants in a single frame is established so aesthetically. The scenes talk more with compositions than dialogues.  

 

 

 

Ivan the Terrible, Part I [1944]

Иван Грозный 1-я серия

Sergei Eisenstein

Russian, USSR