“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 [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film]). 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... [+lire aussi :
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interview : Małgorzata Szumowska, Mich…
fiche film]

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 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Malgorzata Szumowska
interview : Malgorzata Szumowska
fiche film] and Mug [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Małgorzata Szumowska
fiche film], which both earned Szumowska Silver Bears, and for Never Gonna Snow Again [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
interview : Małgorzata Szumowska et Mi…
fiche film], 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Malgorzata Sumowska
fiche film], with an international cast led by Juliette Binoche; The Other Lamb [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Malgorzata Szumowska
fiche film], with Raffey Cassidy in the main role; and Infinite Storm [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], 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 [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
interview : Leonie Benesch
fiche film], The Disappearance of Josef Mengele) and the UK’s Gold Rush Pictures (Club Zero [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Jessica Hausner
fiche film], Ruben Östlund’s upcoming The Entertainment System Is Down). The Match Factory is handling its world sales (see the news).