Razumikhin's Casting
There have been many adaptations of Crime and Punishment starting from the
20th century onward, ergo many interpretations of not only the story itself, but the
characters as well. This is a list of Razumikhin's casting across the several films
I've watched and what I think of them.
1970: Aleksandr Pavlov
1970 Crime and Punishment was directed by Lev Kulidzhanov and has a runtime of 3h 44m. You can
find the entire film on YouTube
with English subtitles and split into two parts. Its ease of access means that this film was most likely
a lot of people's first adaptation and despite the length (though breaking traditional movie runtimes)
it is quite faithful to the book. You may find that a lot of Soviet/Russian adaptations are very loyal
to the original source, and though it may take visual liberties, the dialogue never strays far from the gospel.
Pavlov is one of my favourite Razumikhin's and, in my opinion, the most 'golden retriever'
of the others. There is a gentleness in his face that is true to Razumikhin, and a sort of
bruteness at the same time, also true to his character. This version also seems a little more
serious compared to others and the original text. This is especially prevelant during his first
visit to Raskolnikov's apartment when he buys him new clothes. There is something muted about
his personality. This is not necessarily a bad thing, merely a facet of who he is. He truly
cares about Raskolnikov, about him getting better, and he takes care of him with genuine
selflessness. It's not the fault of a movie that his characterization is diluted in favour of
Raskolnikov's, but there is an interesting depth to text Razumikhin that is missing in 1970. Not
only that, a book such as this one is hard to capture across only a few hours. It's my belief that
Dostoyevsky takes extra care of writing his characters, however big or small of a role they play in
his story, and as such they have to be filtered for a script. 1970 is a solid Razumikhin and I adore
him greatly, but I do miss some of his silliness.
2002: Matt Servitto
2002 was directed by Menahem Golen and has a runtime of 2h 6m. The setting for this version takes
an irregular turn, all events happening in the late 20th century. The most notable casting involved
Crispin Glover as Raskolnikov and John Hurt as Porfiry (who, funnily enough, played Raskolnikov in
the 1970 miniseries). I'm not very fond of this adaptation, mostly for its liberties, but its charm
is that it was filmed in Russia and you can see some landmarks such as the Kremlin, the Moskva river, and
the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman sculpture (disregarding the fact that we are very clearly in Moscow, rather
than St. Petersburg). If nothing else, it's a film that carries a piece of history with it.
Though I have issues with the movie itself, I really love Matt Servitto as Razumikhin. The decision to
make him live in the same apartment complex as Raskolnikov made for far more endearing and frequent
interactions. He's more involved in Raskolnikov's life this way, and therefore it makes sense that he's
invested in his family affairs as well. It may be a consolation to some people who question text
Razumikhin's motivation to be as caring as he is to Raskolnikov. In general, really, Servitto is incredibly
charming in this movie and brings a lot of personality to Razumikhin. My only complaint is that he wasn't
casted for a better adaptation.
2007: Sergey Peregudov
2007 Crime and Punishment is the first series on this list and, in absolutely all
regards, is possibly the most faithful to the story while also correctly interpreting the characters
and their motives (even all the casting is perfect, which is quite rare). I will admit here that when
it comes to adaptations, perhaps I lean more conservatively. That is, I don't like it when film or tv
adaptations stray from their source or try to insert something new that was not in the story before. There
is also this other problem where adaptations can take too much away (the cause of this usually being that
the medium in which the book is being adapted is too restricting for the depth of the story) and leaves it
feeling hollow or unfinished. 2007 not only understood that the story needed ample time to unfold, but so do
the characters as well. For example, if we put 1970 Raskolnikov and Razumikhin on a scale, we will find that
the film favours Raskolnikov far more than Razumikhin in the interest of time and because this is Raskolnikov's
struggle, after all. And even in some instances it seems like Razumikhin does not exist without Raskolnikov.
But 2007 balances them both, allows both of their characters to be fleshed out as Dostoyevsky would've wanted.
Peregudov is the most dyanmic Razumikhin out of all the rest. He is the star of every scene he's in and
perfectly encapsulates what text Razumikhin is - he is the foil. Comical, a little simple, but genuine,
kind, and knows how and when to be serious. He defends Raskolnikov at every turn. He is a fool in love.
Peregudov is the true interpretation of the Razumikhin who unknowingly correctly guessed how Raskolnikov
committed the murder, even if Zosimov argued that all of it was too coincidental. I frequently find myself coming
back to 2007 just for Razumikhin (and if you couldn't tell by the homepage, I'm very captivated by his portrayal).
No notes, it's hard to say anything more when he is absolutely perfect as is. 2007 can be found, with English subtitles,
on YouTube
and Dailymotion.
2024: Tikhon Zhiznevsky
No gifs because I hated watching this series! 2024 Crime and Punishment takes place in modern day Russia and makes
some deranged decisions in building the characters through the span of 10 episodes. Each episode is about an hour
or so long and every minute feels like eating glass. The soundtrack and visuals are stunning, I will give them
that. However, it seemed like a personal goal of this adaptation to butcher as many characters as possible, completely
muddling their relations with Raskolnikov, doing away with religious themes, and embedding some sort of supernatural
elements in an attempt to portray Raskolnikov's psyche. Not even as a standalone (if 1970 and 2007 did not exist)
would it hold up as a good adaptation. This shrine is about Razumikhin first and foremost, but the real crime in this
adaptation is how awfully the show decided to characterize Raskolnikov. He is a shallow man who lacks the
humilation which comes with Russian Orthodox beliefs, throws several temper tantrums, and is hardly portrayed as
generous to the point of it being a detriment to his own wellbeing. Text Raskolnikov's religious belief are deeply
intertwined with his deep desire to be loved and saved. It is love above all that saves him.
It is a shame that such wonderful cinematography and even decent casting is wasted on this.
Raskolnikov virtually has no redeeming qualities about him (not that the showrunners wanted to redeem him in the
first place, quite frankly) and therefore as a result of that, throughout the show, Razumikhin just barely tolerates
him. Rather than being his best friend, it seems like he begrudgingly sticks around - for what reason? Well, that
beats me. He takes care of Raskolnikov in the same manner as an exasperated babysitter, which makes emotional parts
between them ineffective. He sleeps with Raskolnikov's landlady (several times, if I remember correctly) and Sonya
(unknowingly, I believe, but what a strange and unnecessary scene it was) and his chemistry with Dunya is awkward
and stiff. I have really never seen Razumikhin naked as many times as I did watching this adaptation. A brief scene
with Zametov reveals that he was in the army and he doesn't necessarily believe in god, which was never explicitly
stated in the original text (though the general attitude during the time was that many people believed). Much like
1970, Zhiznevsky's Razumikhin is incredibly serious - it is just not as endearing as 1970 for the reasons mentioned
above. I don't hate Zhiznevsky's portrayal. 2024 can be humorous, especially between Raskolnikov and Razumikhin,
but for every funny scene there are 10 bad ones that make you wonder why you aren't watching 2007 instead. Please
just watch 2007.
