The Idiot (TV series)


The Idiot is a costume drama TV series produced by Russia TV Channel in 2003, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1869 novel of the same title.
The series' script is very close to Dostoevsky's original text, and the series features well-known Russian actors. According to bonus materials included on the DVD, in order to improve authenticity, serious efforts were made to capture the spirit of the time, through proper way of speaking, and through very careful selection of costumes for the actors to wear.
The series was branded by the novel's original pre-1920s orthography title "идіотъ" instead of the current "идиот" as one will find it on the bookshelves in Russia. This branded title "ИДІОТЪ" can be seen at the beginning of each part and on the cover of the DVD release.
The series consists of 10 parts each approximately 50 minutes.

Cast

On several occasions in the series, one can observe "today's" Russian flag, the white-blue-red Tricolour. This, however, is the director's mistake. Dostoevsky himself died in 1881, and the novel is set earlier. While this flag was already used in tsarist Russia, it was admitted for use on land only in 1883 and became the official flag of the empire in 1896. Thus, the black-gold-silver tsarist flag should have been used in the film.