The scandalous glory of "Yesenin": Why the sensational series caused fierce controversy and a barrage of criticism

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

January 10 marks the 76th anniversary of the famous actress, People's Artist of Russia Valentina Telichkina. The first popularity came to her at the age of 20, but the most famous were those of her film roles, which she played in adulthood, when she herself no longer expected to continue her acting career. Both on-screen and off-screen, she was best at her role as a mother. Sergei Bezrukov, who played her son twice, considered Telichkina to be the owner of the best female qualities and could not imagine another screen mother for himself. Their tandem really looked very harmonious, but the joint work in the series "Yesenin" caused conflicting reviews …

In 2005, on the occasion of the 110th birthday of Sergei Yesenin, the novel Yesenin by actor, writer and playwright Vitaly Bezrukov was published, which formed the basis for the script of the series of the same name, which appeared on the screens in the same year. The actor was fond of the work of the famous poet from the age of 14, at the age of 26 he played Sergei Yesenin in the play "Anna Snegina", and years later his son, actor Sergei Bezrukov, appeared on the theater stage in the same image. In 1997 he was awarded the State Prize for his role in the play "My Life, Or Did You Dream?" It was then that Vitaly Bezrukov had the idea to write a book about the poet and film it. Of course, in the main role he represented his son, because in the theater Sergei Bezrukov appeared in this image on stage for 7 years.

The main source of information when creating the novel for him was the work of investigator Eduard Khlystalov, in which the author, from the standpoint of modern forensic science, refuted the official version of Yesenin's voluntary departure from life. And Khlystalov himself served as a prototype for one of the main characters of the future series - Colonel Khlystov, who in the 1980s. conducts its own investigation into the reasons for the poet's premature departure. Sergei Bezrukov called his father's novel "", and about the version presented in the book, and then in the series, the actor said: "".

Vitaly Bezrukov became not only the screenwriter of the series "Yesenin", but also played one of the roles in it - quite expectedly, he played the poet's father. And the image of his mother on the screen was embodied by Valentina Telichkina. Prior to that, she had already worked with Sergei Bezrukov in the series "Brigade", and then the actor called her the owner of the best feminine qualities and the personification of the all-forgiving maternal love. After that, he no longer imagined another screen mother for himself, and Telichkina offered him: ""

Later, the actress admitted: "". At first, she wanted to give up filming in the "Brigade" - the actress was very selective in the profession and did not agree to play those roles that would be contrary to her moral principles. However, in this image, she found for herself those immutable family values that were main for herself and which she tried to convey to the audience.

By that time, many viewers had long forgotten the name of Valentina Telichkina - she began acting in her youth, her first popularity came to her in the late 1960s, when she starred in the film "Journalist". In the 1970s. she continued to act a lot, and then disappeared from the screens for a long time - Telichkina got married, gave birth to a son and devoted herself entirely to the family. The cinema crisis of the 1990s.deprived her of hope to return to the screens, but when she herself had already put an end to her acting career, fate gave her a chance to return to the profession, and this return was triumphant. In adulthood, the actress has become much more popular and more successful than in her youth. She looked most organically on the screens in the image of a mother - probably precisely because this role became the most important for her in real life.

The work of Valentina Telichkina in the series "Yesenin" was highly appreciated by film critics, as was the choice of the cast in general, but they had many questions for the director and screenwriter. The series caused a flurry of criticism, its creators were accused of distorting historical facts and biographical inaccuracies. Forensic expert Sergei Nikitin in an interview with one of the publications said that he did not find the facts confirming the version of the violent death of Sergei Yesenin, and the mark on his forehead, which is often mentioned by supporters of this version, probably remained from contact with a hot pipe of steam heating in a hotel " Angleterre ". When asked why in our time there are so many new assumptions on this topic, he replied: "".

Director Igor Zaitsev has repeatedly said that he was shooting not documentaries, but fiction films, and reminded the audience: ". Unnecessary associations inevitably arose in many - the series "Brigade" was released just 3 years before, and then no one really imagined Sergei Bezrukov in another image. In addition, the actress Yekaterina Guseva appeared in a pair with him again, who played the wife of his character in the Brigade, and Augusta Miklashevskaya in Yesenin. The parallels suggested themselves and prevented many from abstracting from the previous images.

In addition to complaints about the choice of an actor for the main role, critics also expressed dissatisfaction with the interpretation of the poet's image, which, in their opinion, corresponded to the philistine ideas about Yesenin. The director, playwright and writer Yuri Ershov was indignant: "".

N. Pereyaslov wrote in the Literaturnaya Gazeta: “”.

The director and screenwriter were reproached for the fact that the series pays too little attention to Yesenin's poetry and too much of his personal life, feasts, debauches and fights. To justify the creators of the series, other critics wrote that such accents were placed at the request of the producers, who wanted to see modern "action" in this film and were primarily concerned about the entertainment and shocking of the project. And absolutely everyone agreed on one thing: thanks to the series, the fate of Sergei Yesenin was again in the focus of attention of the general public, there was a new surge of interest in the poet's work and the mystery of his death, and how to imagine his image and what to focus on is already the right of choice for every reader and viewer.

Together, this pair did not appear on the screens anymore: Why Ekaterina Guseva avoided filming with Sergei Bezrukov.