Belye nochi

The cinematic possibilities of this story are inexhaustible, to judge by the quantity of attempts. Visconti, Bresson, among others. While this film nods to the splendors of St. Petersburg, it seems to be mostly shot in studio, with some rather inept attempts to make visual representations of the dreamer's fantasies. I would have preferred to re-read the story, for the main hero is more representative of a Gogolian Khlestakov or Basmachkin than a Dostoevskian underground man. I'm actually sorry that I watched it now, because previously I had a very favorable opinion of Soviet Russian screen versions of the classics. Not for a moment do we believe this lovely heroine could turn her attention to the narrator of the story, but the boarder is cute.