Otec Sergij was the final highpoint of pre-revolutionary Russian cinema in spite of the fact that it was completed after October 1917. There is room for both a critical image of czarism and fascination with the rustle of silk ball gowns. Protazanov was particularly sensitive to the change in times and how to represent them. As a result, he was a successful filmmaker in pre-revolutionary Russia as well as in the Soviet era. Furthermore, Protazanov is a case of a popular film director who legitimized avant-garde discoveries. Otec Sergij was a blockbuster whose creators applied all the achievements of their era – like mise-en-scène in depth, camera movement and double exposures – used previously mainly in the films of the sophisticated director Evgenij Bauer.
The screen adaptation and Lev Tolstoj’s eponymous short novel tell the same hagiography. The film narrates the transformation of its main character from adolescence to old age, performed by the brilliant Ivan Mozžuchin. It is not only through changes in Mozžuchin’s appearance through make-up which make him believable as both a secular fop and an old hermit. In every new period of the character’s life we find him in new settings and we see how space changes the way he performs. (It is remarkable that the director chose to use real locations – the Moscow Nobles’ Club, the Cadet corps, the monastery interiors, etc. – instead of studio sets.) In Otec Sergij we can enjoy one of the greatest acting performances of the silent film era.
Otec Sergij follows the dramaturgical changes in its protagonist’s inner emotions. During most of the scenes Mozžuchin remains alone in the foreground completely self-absorbed by his emotions. However, Otec Sergij is unlike the pre-revolutionary Russian films, which were distinguished by their vibrant atmosphere around motionless figures. Plot twists are often dynamic and abrupt, and so were the times in which the film was made.

Alisa Nasrtdinova