Adapting a novel to the screen is always an enormous task, especially Dostoyevsky. That said, this film does an excellent job of capturing the story on many levels. The acting is very well done, particularly Innokenti Smoktunovsky as Porfiry Petrovitch. The art direction is very spot on, capturing Saint Petersburg in all its shabby glory, especially Raskolnikov’s tiny, tomb-like apartment.

After recently reviewing this film, I found the screenplay to be very well done in portraying the philosophical side of Dotsoyevsky, but the subtle details, especially of Raskolnikov’s inward guilty and Sonia’s strong faith, were not as present in the film as in the book. I am very interested in Sonya and Raskolnikov’s relationship, and I believe the film does an excellent job at capturing their similar sinful dilemmas, but sadly due to the Soviet era in which this film was made, Sonia’s deep religious faith is toned down to a minimum. The scene in the book where Raskolnikov forces Sonia to read the Bible is just such a compelling one, and yet it is absent from the film. Also, the ending is completely left to a bare minimum, which some people might find very modern, but it completely lack’s Dostoyevsky’s epilogue to the book (again, another Soviet censorship job no doubt).

All in all, this film is an excellent rendering of Dostoyevsky, despite the lack of intimateness that is so present in the book. For a Soviet era film, it’s one of the best out there. This version of Crime & Punishment is probably the best Dosto adaptation ever committed to film, so for fans of the book it is a must see.