Aleksey GERMAN
Алексей ГЕРМАН
Alekseï GUERMAN
Russia, 2013, 177mn 
Black and white, fiction
Hard to Be a God
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Трудно быть богом

 

 Il est difficile d'être un Dieu

 Trudno byt bogom

Other titles : История арканарской резни / The Story of the Arcanar Massacre
 
Directed by : Aleksey GERMAN (Алексей ГЕРМАН)
Writing credits : Aleksey GERMAN (Алексей ГЕРМАН), Svetlana KARMALITA (Светлана КАРМАЛИТА), Arkadi STRUGATSKY (Аркадий СТРУГАЦКИЙ), Boris STRUGATSKY (Борис СТРУГАЦКИЙ)
Based on The brothers Strugatsky's novel 'Hard to be a God'
 
Cast
Aleksandr ILIN (Александр ИЛЬИН) ...Arata
Piotr MERKURYEV (Пётр МЕРКУРЬЕВ)
Laura PITSKHELAURY (Лаура ПИЦХЕЛАУРИ)
Yuri TSURILO (Юрий ЦУРИЛО) ...Baron Pampa
Leonid YARMOLNIK (Леонид ЯРМОЛЬНИК) ...Don Rumata
 
Cinematography : Vladimir_2 ILIN (Владимир_2 ИЛЬИН), Yuri KLIMENKO (Юрий КЛИМЕНКО)
Production design : Sergey KOKOVKIN (Сергей КОКОВКИН), Georgi KROPACHEV (Георгий КРОПАЧЕВ), Yelena ZHUKOVA (Елена ЖУКОВА)
Produced by : Viktor IZVEKOV (Виктор ИЗВЕКОВ)
Spectators : 183 620
Release date in Russia : 27/02/2014
 
Sites : Allociné, IMDb, Chapaev.media
Release date in France : 2015-02-11, Site

Awards :
Best Cinematography Yuri KLIMENKO , Vladimir_2 ILIN , Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2015
Best Set Decoration Georgi KROPACHEV , Yelena ZHUKOVA , Sergey KOKOVKIN , Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2015
Special Prize Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2014

DVD with subtitles
Editor : Capricci. 2015. Titre : Il est difficile d'être un Dieu.
Dans un double coffret contenant : « Il est difficile d’être Dieu » et « Khroustaliov, ma voiture ! »
Bonus du coffret :
- Guerman enfin... de Guy Seligmann (making of de Khroustaliov, ma voiture !), 1998, 19 min.
- Rencontre publique avec Svetlana Karmalita.
- Photographies de Il est difficile d'être un dieu par Sergueï Aksionov.
Voir : http://www.capricci.fr/coffret-alexei-guerman-361.html

Plot synopsis
On another planet, which goes through its Middle Ages, a group of historians from Earth live pretending to be average people. The main character, known as Don Rumata, is disgusted by cruelties he observes on everyday basis but is prohibited by his superiors from interfering and thus changing the natural course of history of the planet. The only thing the historians have a right to do is to protect and help few individuals who seem to be different from everybody else and can benefit the entire planet through their knowledge and ideas. Rumata has to find one of these people, Budakh, and rescue him from the hands of Don Reba, a grey cardinal ruling for a weak king and later, an insane tyrant.
Source :en.wikipedia.org
 

Commentaries
Cinema of the Strugatskys: a history of the Soviet sci-fi legends on screen, from Tarkovsky to Sokurov, Sam GOFF, klassiki.online, 2025
Вечная классика: знаменитые экранизации произведений братьев Стругацких [Classiques éternels : adaptations cinématographiques célèbres des œuvres des frères Strougatski], domkino.tv, 2024
Vingt grandes réalisations des studios Lenfilm, Alexandra GOUZEVA, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2024
Между утопией и антиутопией, kommersant.ru, 2023
Все экранизации братьев Стругацких [Toutes les adaptations cinématographiques des frères Strougatski], dzen.ru, 2022
[Compte rendu du livre] Eugénie Zvonkine, « Il est difficile d’être un dieu » d’Arkadi et Boris Strougatski et Alexeï Guerman. Le scénario interdit, Irina TCHERNEVA, journals.openedition.org, 2020
IL EST DIFFICILE D'ÊTRE UN DIEU d'Arkadi et Boris Strougatski et Alexeï Guerman Le scénario interdit, Eugénie ZVONKINE, L'HARMATTAN, 2019
The Most Significant Russian Films of the Last Decade [2005-2016], Academic Studies Press, 2019
L’espace comme piège dans les films russes contemporains, Eugénie ZVONKINE, Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2017
Il est difficile d'être un dieu, Arkadi STROUGATSKI , Boris STROUGATSKI, Gallimard, 2015
Dur d'être Dieu (Трудно быть Богом), [2013, Alexeï Guerman], Emmanuel GRYNSZPAN, grincine.blogspot.com, 2014
Гений и грязь. Долгожданный фильм Трудно быть богом Алексея Германа шокирует всех. Но каждого — чем-то своим, неожиданным, Yuri GLADILSHCHIKOV, kinote.info, 2013
Как трудно — быть… О незаконченном фильме Алексея Германа Трудно быть богом., Алла Босарт, Novayagazeta.ru, 2013
«Опустит слабые руки». [О фильме Историия арканарской резни], Vasili_3 STEPANOV, seance.ru, 2009
Жоэль Шапрон :"В России нужна организация, занимающаяся продвижением всех фильмов, без исключения", Interview, kinoglaz.fr, 2009
Joël Chapron : "Il faut, en Russie, une institution qui promeuve tous les films sans exclusive", Interview, kinoglaz.fr, 2009
После первого просмотра. [О фильме Историия арканарской резни], seance.ru, 2008
Эльсинор XXI века. [Круглый стол «Сеанса» о фильме История арканарской резни], seance.ru, 2008
 
“Hard to be God” is the latest film by Alekséi Guerman. Work on the film lasted over ten years and was completed after the director's death on February 21, 2013.
The world premiere took place on November 13, 2013, at the Rome Film Festival, which posthumously awarded A. Guerman the "Golden She-Wolf of the Capitol" award for his contribution to the art of cinema.

Reviews on Kinopoisk

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- The 50 best films of contemporary Russian cinema, (Russia), 2026
- Adaptations of Works by the Strugatsky Brothers, (kinoglaz.fr), 2025
- Russian film symposium. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (USA), 2017
- Strasbourg two weeks of Russian cinema, Strasbourg (France), 2016
- Rétrospective Alexeï Guerman à la Cinémathèque française, Paris (France), 2015
- Release in France of the film, Different cities (France), 2015-02-11
- Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2015
- Belgrade International Film Festival, Belgrade (Serbia), 2015
- Melbourne International Film Festival - MIFF, Melbourne (Australia), 2014
- New Cinema Festival, Montreal (Canada), 2014
- Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic), 2014
- Festival international du film de La Roche sur Yon, La Roche sur Yon (France), 2014
- Russian Film Week in Paris : Regards de Russie, Paris (France), 2014
- L'Etrange Festival, Paris (France), 2014
- Munich International Film Festival, Munich (Germany), 2014
- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2014
- Era New Horizons IFF, Wroclaw (Poland), 2014
- Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2014
- Göteborg International Film Festival, Göteborg (Sweden), 2014
- The Times BFI London Film Festival, London (United Kingdom), 2014
- Seattle International Film Festival : SIFF, Seattle (USA), 2014
- Rome Film Festival, Rome (Italy), 2013

Photos, videos, texts
 

BA sous-titrée en français


Fim intégral en VO sans sous-titres