''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита, Master i Margarita) is a Russian television mini-series produced by Russian television channel Telekanal Rossiya, based on the novel ''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐf ...

'', written by Soviet writer

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the fir ...

between 1928 and 1940.

Vladimir Bortko Vladimir Vladimirovich Bortko (russian: Владимир Владимирович Бортко; born 7 May 1946) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was a member of the State Duma between 2011 and 2021, and was aw ...

directed this adaptation and was also its screenwriter. The series tagline is "Manuscripts do not burn!".

Background

This was Bortko's second attempt to make a screen adaptation of Bulgakov's masterpiece. In 2000 he had already been solicited by the Kino-Most film studio, associated with competing channel

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...

; but at the last moment Kino-Most did not reach an agreement with Sergei Shilovsky, grandson of Mikhail Bulgakov's third wife Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya, the self-declared owner of the copyrights. In 2005, Telekanal Rossiiya reached an agreement with Shilovsky. This TV-epopee of more than eight hours was heavily criticized, or at least regarded with much skepticism. The first broadcast on December 19, 2005, was preceded by months of controversy in the media. Opponents feared that filming the work for television would sacrifice the layered narrative of the novel and the complexity of the socio-political and metaphysical themes to the popular demands of the broadcast medium. Director Bortko followed the dialogues of the novel carefully, and the series became the most successful series ever on Russian television. Most of the criticism stopped after the first appearance on screen. On December 25, 2005, 40 million Russians watched the seventh episode. Despite the fact that the city of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

plays an important role in the novel, director Vladimir Bortko opted to shoot the 1930s scenes in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. “Saint Petersburg today is much more like Moscow in the Stalin period than Moscow today,” he said. The biblical scenes were shot in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. Unlike previous screen adaptations, director Vladimir Bortko followed the novel meticulously. The setting of a TV-series appeared to be an ideal format to elaborate the complicated, multidimensional work with many different characters. “Bulgakov wrote the novel almost like a screenplay”, Bortko said.

The story

Three layers

The film is an adaptation of the novel ''

'' written by the Russian author

. Three story lines are interwoven. * The first story is a satire of the 1930s in the 20th century, the period during which

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

was in power in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The devil

Woland Woland (russian: Воланд) is a fictional character in the novel ''The Master and Margarita'' by the Russian (Soviet) author Mikhail Bulgakov, written between 1928 and 1940. Woland is the mysterious foreigner and professor whose visit to Mosco ...

comes to

to have his annual Spring Ball of the Full Moon. Together with his demonic suite, he challenges the corrupt lucky ones, bureaucrats, and profiteers of that period in an hilarious way.. * The second story line is set in the biblical Yershalaim, and describes the inner struggle of

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...

before, during, and after the conviction and execution of Yeshua Ha Nozri. * The third layer tells the love story between a nameless writer, called the Master, in Moscow in the 1930s and his lover Margarita. The Master has written a novel about Pontius Pilate, a subject which was taboo in the officially atheistic Soviet Union.

Differences from the novel

Despite the length of the TV series, several scenes and characters from the novel were not included in this adaptation. * The most notable of the absent characters are doctor Kuzmin and the demon

Abaddon The Hebrew term Abaddon ( he, אֲבַדּוֹן ''’Ăḇaddōn'', meaning "destruction", "doom"), and its Greek equivalent Apollyon ( grc-koi, Ἀπολλύων, ''Apollúōn'' meaning "Destroyer") appear in the Bible as both a place of de ...

. * The most notable of the absent scenes is ''The Dream of Nikanor Ivanovich'', in which Bulgakov denounces, through the dream of a protagonist, the

show trials A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so th ...

in the Soviet Union. Vladimir Bortko replaced this scene with an assembly of authentic Soviet

propaganda film A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

s from that period.

Trivia

* Vladimir Bortko did not like the voice of actor

Aleksandr Galibin Alexander Vladimirovich Galibin (russian: Александр Владимирович Галибин, born 27 September 1955) is a Soviet and Russian actor noted for playing the Master in the miniseries ''The Master and Margarita'' (2005). His a ...

, who played the role of the Master. Galibin's voice is not heard in the film. Instead, his lines were dubbed using the voice of

Sergey Bezrukov Sergey Vitalyevich Bezrukov (russian: link=no, Серге́й Вита́льевич Безру́ков, born 18 October 1973) is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor, singer, People's Artist of Russia, the laureate of the State Prize of th ...

, the actor who played the role of Yeshua. But there were more voices dubbed by other actors. To mention only the most important ones: the role of Aloisy Mogarych was played by actor Gennadi Bogachov, but we hear the voice of actor

Andrei Tolubeyev Andrei Yurevich Tolubeyev (russian: Андрей Юрьевич Толубеев) (March 30, 1945 – April 7, 2008) was a Soviet and Russian theatrical and cinema actor. People’s Artist of the RSFSR, People's Artist of the RSFSR (1991). Chai ...

. And Aphranius, played by Lithuanian actor

Liubomiras Laucevičius Liubomiras Laucevičius (born 15 June 1950) is a Lithuanian actor. He has appeared in more than fifty films since 1979. Selected filmography References External links * 1950 births Living people Lithuanian male film actors ...

, got the voice of

Oleg Basilashvili Oleg Valerianovich Basilashvili (russian: Оле́г Валериа́нович Басилашви́ли; ka, ოლეგ ბასილაშვილი, ; born 26 September 1934) is a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. People's Artist ...

, the actor who played Woland. * In the series, the dialogue from chapter 5 between the characters «near the cast-iron fence of Griboedov's» about the quality of the restaurant at the writer's house is not conducted by the characters Amvrosy and Foka. Vladimir Bortko replaced them with the characters of Grigory Rimsky and Styopa Likhodeev. * Director Vladimir Bortko made an historical mistake in this TV series. In episode 5, we hear the foxtrot Цветущий май svetushchi mayor ''Blossoming May'' coming from the cellar of the master. This foxtrot, written by composer Artur Moritsevich Polonsky (1899-1989), was not released until 1948. So Bulgakov, who died in 1940, could not have known it * Some of the actors who appear in this TV series also appeared in the film

made by

Yuri Kara Yuri Viktorovich Kara (Russian: Юрий Викторович Кара), born on 12 November 1954 in Stalino, is a Russian film director, screenwriter and producer. Biography Yuri Kara was born on 12 November 1954 in the Stalino, which is now c ...

Aleksandr Filippenko Aleksandr Georgievich Filippenko (russian: links=no, Александр Георгиевич Филиппенко; born September 2, 1944) is a Soviet and Russian actor. People's Artist of Russia (2000). Biography He was born in Moscow. His pare ...

(Azazello in Bortko's production) is Koroviev in Kara's film, while

Valentin Gaft Valentin Iosifovich Gaft (russian: Валенти́н Ио́сифович Гафт; 2 September 1935 – 12 December 2020) was a Soviet and Russian actor. He was People's Artist of the RSFSR (1984). Biography Early life and education Gaft was ...

, who plays the roles of both

Caiaphas Joseph ben Caiaphas (; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD), known simply as Caiaphas (; grc-x-koine, Καϊάφας, Kaïáphas ) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who, according to the gospels, organized a plot to kill Jesus. He famous ...

and the chief officer of the secret police in Bortko's miniseries, is Woland in Kara's film.

(Woland) played Vladimir Talberg in

Vladimir Basov Vladimir Pavlovich Basov (russian: link=no, Владимир Павлович Басов; 28 July 192317 September 1987) was a Soviet Russian actor, film director and screenwriter. People's Artist of the USSR (1983). Biography Vladimir Basov was ...

's film ''The Days of the Turbins'', and

Roman Kartsev Roman Andreyevich Kartsev (russian: link=no, Рома́н Андре́евич Ка́рцев, born Roman Antshelevich Katz (russian: link=no, Рома́н А́ншелевич Кац); 20 May 1939 – 2 October 2018) was a Russian entertainer of ...

(Maksimilian Poplavsky) was ''Schwonder'' in Vladimir Bortko's screen adaptation of

Heart of a Dog ''Heart of a Dog'' (russian: links=no, italic=yes, Собачье сердце, Sobachye serdtse) is a novella by Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov. A biting satire of Bolshevism, it was written in 1925 at the height of the NEP period, when commu ...

* A main theme of ''The Master and Margarita'', death under mysterious circumstances, remains very topical. Several deaths that have occurred, since the filming of the miniseries, among actors who played roles in it feed the idea for many Russians that a curse rests upon those who participate in a film adaptation of ''The Master and Margarita'', and this idea is fiercely debated even today. But some events are not reported accurately. Some media report that the 29-year-old daughter of Valentin Gaft (Kaifa) would have hanged herself shortly after the filming. But that's not exact: Olga's body was discovered on August 24, 2002, three years before the filming of the series. An overview of all sudden and suspected deaths after the recordings of the TV series can be found on the ''Master and Margarita'' website. * An important element of the novel is the fact that the master has no name. But when, in episode 8 of this series, Behemoth returns the manuscript of the novel to the master, we see the title page of the manuscript with the name of the author - Maksudov Nikolay Afanasievich. That is the name of the main character from Bulgakov's ''

Theatrical Novel ''Theatrical Novel'' (''Notes of a Dead Man''), translated as ''Black Snow'' and ''A Dead Man's Memoir'' (russian: Театральный роман (Записки покойника), translit=Teatralnyy roman (Zapiski pokoynika) is an unfinished ...

'', which was translated in English as ''Black Snow'', and which was also given to the master by director Aleksandar Petrović in the film

The Master and Margaret ''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940 during Stalin's regime. A censored version, with several chapters cut by ...

from 1972.

Production

* General Producers: Anton Zlatopolsky,

Valery Todorovsky Valery Petrovich Todorovsky (russian: Вале́рий Петро́вич Тодоро́вский; born 9 May 1962, in Odessa) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, TV producer whose best known film is '' Hipsters'' (2008). He is the son of ...

* Produced by Telekanal Rossiya in collaboration with

Goskino Goskino USSR (russian: link=Yes, Госкино СССР) is the abbreviated name for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography (Государственный комитет по кинематографии СССР) in the Soviet Union. It w ...

* VFX:

Lesta Studio Lesta Games (russian: Леста, ООО, translit=Lesta, OOO; also known as Lesta Studio) is a Russian video game development and film production company with studios in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Minsk and Tashkent. From 2011 to 2022, the com ...

* Special effects: Behemoth Studio St. Petersburg * Special effects: Trigraph

Cast

as the Master (voiced by

) * Anna Kovalchuk as

Margarita A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). T ...

Kirill Lavrov Kirill Yuryevich Lavrov (russian: link=no, Кирилл Юрьевич Лавров; 15 September 1925 – 27 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor and director. Biography Childhood Kirill Yuryevich Lavrov was born on 15 ...

Yeshua Yeshua or Y'shua (; with vowel pointing he, יֵשׁוּעַ, Yēšūaʿ, labels=no) was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua ( he, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, Yəhōšūaʿ, Joshua, labels=no) in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jew ...

Aleksandr Abdulov Aleksandr Gavrilovich AbdulovАбдулов Г. Д.
Ферганский г� ...

as Koroviev *

Azazello Azazello (in early versions of the book, Fiello, russian: link=no, Азазелло) is a character from the novel '' The Master and Margarita'' by the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov. A demon, a member of Woland's entourage. "The demon of the w ...

Aleksandr Bashirov Alexander Nikolaevich Bashirov (russian: Александр Николаевич Баширов; born 24 September 1955, in Sogom) is a Russian film and theater actor, director and screenwriter. He performed in more than sixty films since 1986. ...

as Behemoth (voiced by Semen Furman) *

Vladislav Galkin Vladislav Borisovich Galkin (russian: Владисла́в Бори́сович Га́лкин; 25 December 1971 – 25 February 2010) was a Russian actor who starred in fifty seven films including several TV serials, such as ''Spetsnaz'' (200 ...

as Ivan Bezdomny * Tania U as Hella *

Dmitry Nagiyev Dmitry Vladimirovich Nagiyev (russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Нагиев, born April 4, 1967) is a Russian actor, TV-host, musician, showman and radio host. In 1991, graduated from the Leningrad State Institute Of Theater, Musi ...

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...

/ Baron Meigel *

as Aphranius *

Aleksandr Adabashyan Aleksandr Artyomovich Adabashyan ( rus, Алекса́ндр Артёмович Адабашья́н; born August 10, 1945, Moscow

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

Semyon Strugachyov Semyon Mikhailovich Strugachyov (russian: Семён Миха́йлович Стругачёв; born December 10, 1957) is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor, People's Artist of Russia (2008). Biography Semyon Strugachyov was born on Dece ...

as Levi Matvei *

Valeri Zolotukhin Valeri Sergeevich Zolotukhin (russian: link=no, Валерий Сергеевич Золотухин, 21 June 1941 – 30 March 2013) was a Soviet and Russian stage and cinema actor who performed at the Taganka Theatre which he also headed between ...

as Bosoy *

Vasily Livanov Vasily Borisovich Livanov (russian: link=no, Василий Борисович Ливанов; born 19 July 1935), MBE, is a Soviet and Russian film actor, animation and film director, screenwriter and writer most famous for portraying Sherlock H ...

as Professor Stravinsky *

as Poplavsky *

Ilya Oleynikov Ilya Lvovich Oleynikov (born Ilya Lvovich Klyaver; 10 July 1947 – 11 November 2012) was a Russian comic actor and television personality, TEFI winner (1996, 2001), People's Artist of Russia (2001).

as Rimsky *

Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyorny Aleksandr Vasilyevich Pankratov-Chyorny (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Панкра́тов-Чёрный; born 28 June 1949) is a Russian actor and film director. He appeared in more than seventy films since 1978. He was aw ...

as Likhodeyev *

Valentin Smirnitsky Valentin Georgievich Smirtinsky (russian: Валентин Георгиевич Смирнитский; born 10 June 1944 in Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. People's Artist of Russia (2005). Filmography * '' Walking the Stre ...

as Sempleyarov *

Ivan Krasko Ivan Krasko (real name Ján Botto, pseudonyms ''Bohdana J. Potokinová'', ''Ivan Krasko'', ''Janko Cigáň'', 12 July 1876 in Lukovištia (''Lukovistye'') – 3 March 1958 in Bratislava) was a Slovak poet, translator and representative of moder ...

as the taxi driver

Soundtrack

Igor Kornelyuk
01. Titles - 2:04
02. Invisible and Free - 4:57
03. The Execution - 5:20
04. Do you like My flowers? - 2:40
05. Sabbath - 6:55
06. Waltz - 3:48
07. Garden of Gethsemane - 3:31
08. Woland's theme - 3:40
09. Love Leaped Out in Front of Us - 4:47
10. Azazello's Cream - 1:47
11. Even the Moon Gives Him No Peace - 4:01
12. The Great Ball at Satan's - 12:02
13. More About Love - 6:58
14. Maestro! Hack Out a March! - 1:47 Total time: 61:29 min.

More screen adaptations

* Charlotte Waligòra - Le maître et Marguerite - 2017 (film) *Giovanni Brancale - Il Maestro e Margherita - 2008 (film) *

- Master i Margarita - 2005 (TV series) *Ibolya Fekete - A Mester és Margarita - 2005 (film) *Sergey Desnitsky - Master i Margarita - 1996 (film) *

- Master i Margarita - 1994 (film) *

Paul Bryers Paul Bryers (born 1 August 1955 in Liverpool) is a British film director, screenwriter and fiction author. Biography Paul Bryers studied Modern history, politics and economy at the University of Southampton. Later he joined the Daily Mirror’ ...

- Incident in Judea - 1991 (TV-film) *Oldřich Daněk - Pilát Pontský, onoho dne - 1991 (film) *Andras Szirtes - Forradalom Után - 1990 (film) *Aleksandr Dzekun - Master i Margarita - 1989 (TV series) *

Maciej Wojtyszko Maciej Wojtyszko (; born in Warsaw, Mazowieckie on April 14, 1946) is a Polish film director, screenwriter and fiction author. Biography Maciej Wojtyszko graduated from the ''Liceum Technik Teatralnych'' in Warsaw in 1965. After having studi ...

The Master and Margarita (1988 TV series) ''The Master and Margarita'' (Mistrz i Małgorzata) is a Polish television production of Polish Film Producers Teams (Zespoły Polskich Producentów Filmowych), based on the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov. Background Director and screenwriter of this ...

*Vladimir Vasilyev and Boris Yermolaev - Fuete - 1986 (film) * Aleksandar Petrović - Il Maestro e Margherita - 1972 (film) *

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

Pilate and Others Pilate and Others (german: Pilatus und andere - Ein Film für Karfreitag) is a 1972 German drama film directed by Andrzej Wajda, based on the 1967 novel '' The Master and Margarita'' by the Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov, although it focuses on th ...

- 1972 (TV-film) *

Seppo Wallin Seppo is a masculine given name of Finnish origin. It has two distinct origins; Seppo is a character in the Kalevala, whose name is derived from the Finnish word ''seppä'', meaning smith, and the name is also a diminutive for Sebastian in Finlan ...

- Pilatus - 1970 (TV-film) ;To be expected: *Logos Film Company - The Master and Margarita - 2018 (film) *

Katariina Lillqvist Katariina (Finnish; ''Katarina'' in Swedish) is a district in the Uittamo-Skanssi ward of the city of Turku, in Finland. It is located in the south of the city, and is mainly a low-density residential suburb. There is also a nature reserve in t ...

- Mistr a Markétka - 2013 (animation film) * Nikolai Lebedev - Master i Margarita - 2019 (film)

Sources

External links

* *
The Master and Margarita (TV miniseries)
on the Master and Margarita website {{DEFAULTSORT:Master and Margarita, The Russia-1 original programming Films based on The Master and Margarita Russian fantasy television series 2005 Russian television series debuts 2000s Russian television series Russian television miniseries Portrayals of Jesus on television Television shows directed by Vladimir Bortko Films set in the 1930s Films set in Moscow Television series set in the 1930s Cultural depictions of Judas Iscariot Cultural depictions of Pontius Pilate Caiaphas Russian horror fiction television series