UDC 791-51 + 008
DOI: 10.30628/1994-9529-2025-21.3-121-145
EDN: QULNSH
Received 07.06.2025, revised 03.08.2025, accepted 26.09.2025
NIKOLAY N. PODOSOKORSKY
Gorky Institute of World Literature
of the Russian Academy of Sciences
25As1, Povarskaya, Moscow 121069, Russia
ResearcherID: AAC-6485-2021
ORCID: 0000-0001-6310-1579
e-mail: n.podosokorskiy@gmail.com
For citation
Podosokorsky, N.N. (2025). The image of Napoleon in film adaptations of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: Versions by Josef von Sternberg, Georges Lampin, Joseph Sargent, and Vladimir Mirzoyev. Nauka Televideniya—The Art and Science of Television, 21 (3), 121–145. https://doi.org/10.30628/1994-9529-2025-21.3-121-145, https://elibrary.ru/QULNSH
The image of Napoleon in film adaptations of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: Versions by Josef von Sternberg, Georges Lampin, Joseph Sargent, and Vladimir Mirzoyev
Abstract. This article presents a pioneering study of the image of Napoleon I in film adaptations of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. The analysis focuses on four adaptations selected for their vivid, unique, and representative portrayals of the Napoleonic myth. These are: Josef von Sternberg’s 1935 American film Crime and Punishment; Georges Lampin’s 1956 French adaptation of the same name; Joseph Sargent’s 1998 American television film; and Vladimir Mirzoyev’s recent 2024 Russian series. While each offers a distinct reinterpretation of Dostoevsky’s original plot and the role of the Napoleonic myth within it, all four underscore the profound significance of Napoleon’s image for the protagonist, Rodion Raskolnikov, who commits his crime with the explicit goal of becoming a new “Napoleon.” A key distinction emerges in their visual strategies: the earlier films by Sternberg and Lampin emphasize symbolic objects and details (a portrait, a statuette), whereas Sargent’s film and, most notably, Mirzoyev’s series pivot towards a substantial alteration of the historical and literary context.
Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, film adaptations, Napoleon, Napoleonic myth, Rodion Raskolnikov, Josef von Sternberg, Georges Lampin, Joseph Sargent, Vladimir Mirzoyev