PRODUCTION / FUNDING France / USA / UK
Vicky Krieps added to the cast of Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert's The Idiots
by Ola Salwa, Vassilis Economou
- The film, said to be an anti-imperialistic black comedy, will also star Aimee Lou Wood, Johnny Flynn, Christian Friedel, Barbara Marten and Rainer Bock, and will be shot entirely in Poland
UPDATE 26 May 2025: Joining Aimee Lou Wood and Johnny Flynn in the cast of The Idiots are Vicky Krieps, the award-winning Luxembourgish actress known for Corsage [+see also:
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film profile], who received the Best Performance Award in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and a European Film Award for Corsage; Christian Friedel, a German actor recognised for his work in The Zone of Interest [+see also:
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film profile], The White Ribbon [+see also:
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interview: Michael Haneke
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interview: Jim Loach
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film profile], Das Boot and The White Ribbon.
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“It’s not a traditional approach to Fiodor Dostoyevsky. The film is highly contemporary and refers very much to what is happening currently in the world. It’s a timely story, to a certain extent about the fact that, without his wife, Dostoyevsky wouldn’t have been who he became,” Małgorzata Szumowska, the co-director and co-writer of The Idiots, tells Cineuropa exclusively. She adds that the new film will be a black comedy – and an anti-imperialistic one, too. She explains that the script, which she wrote with Michał Englert, with help from Kasper Bajon and Brid Arstein, used Anna Dostoevskaya’s diaries as a principal source. The story, as Variety first revealed, will revolve around Fiodor and Anna’s honeymoon and the early years of their marriage, a period when the famous novel The Idiots was conceived. Andrew D Kaufman’s book The Gambler Wife: A True Story of Love, Risk, and the Woman Who Saved Dostoyevsky is an additional literary source for the script.
Shooting will start on 16 June in Poland, with all locations scouted inside the country. The cast revealed so far includes Aimee Lou Wood (White Lotus, Sex Education) and Johnny Flynn (Ripley, One Life [+see also:
film review
film profile]). Szumowska also tells Cineuropa that more cast members will be announced soon, presumably during the Cannes Film Festival. Englert, who is one of Poland’s top cinematographers and also works on international projects, will lens the movie and will co-direct with Szumowska for the third time, after All Inclusive and Woman of... [+see also:
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interview: Małgorzata Szumowska, Micha…
film profile]
Most of the duo’s previous projects – on which Englert served as DoP, co-writer or additional director – saw them borrowing elements of black comedy. This was indeed the case for Body [+see also:
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interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
film profile] and Mug [+see also:
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interview: Małgorzata Szumowska
film profile], which both earned Szumowska Silver Bears, and for Never Gonna Snow Again [+see also:
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interview: Małgorzata Szumowska and Mi…
film profile], which opened at Venice. Their films, shot and written in Polish, take a critical look at Polish society, the oddities that constitute people’s daily lives and the way they perceive the world. Their recent effort Woman of… premiered in Venice’s main competition in 2023.
Szumowska has also already worked on international projects, including Elles [+see also:
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interview: Malgorzata Sumowska
film profile], with an international cast led by Juliette Binoche; The Other Lamb [+see also:
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interview: Malgorzata Szumowska
film profile], with Raffey Cassidy in the main role; and Infinite Storm [+see also:
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film profile], which was toplined by Hollywood star Naomi Watts. These movies have a more serious and darker tone compared to Szumowska’s Polish works, and revolve around female characters facing different, yet always significant, forms of adversity.
The Idiots is being produced by French-US outfit Hype Studios (Persian Lessons [+see also:
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interview: Leonie Benesch
film profile], The Disappearance of Josef Mengele [+see also:
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interview: Kirill Serebrennikov
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interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile], Ruben Östlund’s upcoming The Entertainment System Is Down). The Match Factory is kicking its world sales at Cannes' Marché du Film (see the news).
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