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The Master and Margaret

1972 1h 41m Mystery & Thriller Drama List
Tomatometer 0 Reviews 29% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
In 1925 Moscow, a playwright (Ugo Tognazzi) discovers that a mysterious professor (Alain Cuny) who is looming over a controversial work is really Satan incarnate.

Audience Reviews

View All (3) audience reviews
david l The Master and Margaret was a Serbian adaptation of the iconic eponymous novel that was directed by Aleksandar Petrovic and it had a terrific ensemble of superbly cast performers. It's such an underrated movie that deserves more respect for the many things that they did right, including strong and faithful characterization, excellent dialogue, amazing acting and terrific humor. The movie is overly short and it only adapts a portion of its sprawling source material, but at least they adapted those parts splendidly, and I would much rather have it this way than an adaptation that adapts an entire book, but does it haphazardly. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review walter m In "The Master and Margaret," Nikolai Maksudov(Ugo Tognazzi) is rehearsing his new play about Pontius Pilate when Rimski(Tasko Nacic) voices an objection that every word in it may not be exactly gospel truth. When consulted, Woland(Alain Cuny) tells him to go ahead before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Berlioz(Fabijan Sovagovic) says that he never heard of Woland and to please stop. At least, Nikolai's personal life is going better when Margareta(Mimsy Farmer) approaches him in the street. He takes her back to his place to see his pornography collection but she takes a rain check on spending the night. Nikolai might not get a better chance because Oskar(Zlatko Madunic) informs him that he should go to Yalta for a while(considering this is 1920's Moscow, he could have come up with much worse suggestions) but in fact it is Oskar who unexpectedly ends up there. "The Master and Margaret" is an oddly engaging fable and morality play that is deceptively close to being something special. The story is complicated by a slippery little devil whose motives are still a little unclear. What I am sure of now is how little the movie has to do with the hot button topic of religion, despite the subject of Nikolai's play, and is instead concerned with faith which is not always the same thing. For example, Nikolai is about the only character who has not lost faith in the revolution and is still fighting the power whereas all his old comrades have settled in to be like the old boss and just as corrupt, to boot. That's not to mention the movie also making a great case for freedom of speech which is as timely as ever. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member petrovic fa quello che vuole con la trama e i personaggi non mi convincono :( forse sono troppo innamorata del libro e mi ero fatta un'idea troppo precisa riguardo particolari che il caro petrovic non si è nemmeno sognato di considerare. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Master and Margaret

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis In 1925 Moscow, a playwright (Ugo Tognazzi) discovers that a mysterious professor (Alain Cuny) who is looming over a controversial work is really Satan incarnate.
Director
Aleksandar Petrovic
Screenwriter
Aleksandar Petrovic, Amedeo Pagani, Barbara Alberti
Production Co
Buena Vista (Walt Disney)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (DVD)
Aug 17, 2004
Runtime
1h 41m