It’s not easy to follow the part of the series with Ipollit, partly because I haven’t read the book, and partly because his is not a type we have in our society. He is as self-absorbed as the worst of us baby boomers, but even more of a drama queen. He’s supposed to be dying of what seems to be tuburculosis, though that word isn’t used. Neither he nor the people around him have heard the government regulations about swine flu and how it’s important to cover your coughs, stay away from people when you’re coughing, wash your hands, etc.

I thought about him when I read this Mary Gordon essay at Killing the Buddha about the Prodigal Son (which I found via Arts & Letters Daily). It has to do with the difficulty the older son has in celebrating the younger son’s return, especially when there is some question whether the kid has really learned his lesson and is repentant.

In answer to Ipollit’s question of what’s the most virtuous way for him to die (he seems determined to make a grand spectacle of it) Prince Mushkin says, “You should pass us by and forgive us our happiness.” I don’t know what Ipollit does with that advice — haven’t yet got that far. But it didn’t seem to be the answer he wanted.

What this scene inspired me to do is to finally look for the Russian text on line in a printable version, and an English translation to go with it. I’ve printed the first chapter. Now to try to slog through it. It’ll take a while.

I don’t normally care much for movies about the lives and manners of aristocratic families. But this family in Idiot is fun to watch. I’m not sure how much of the credit should go to Dostoevsky and how much to the filmmakers, but together they made these people interesting. It isn’t just the individuals, but the inter-generational interactions that draw us in. There is some of your typical youthful rebellion, but the whole of the relationship between parents and children goes a lot deeper than that.

In this scene, General Yepanchin (nicely played by Oleg Basilashvili) while not clueless, is also not quick to understand what’s happening with his daughter. His wife, played by Inna Mikhailovna Churikova, is trying to signal him behind her back not to take her reaction wrongly.

Churikova’s character is one of several highlights of this TV series. She’s made up to look like a severe aristocratic mother, and has moments when she does indeed act the part of a domineering matriarch. But even when she does she’s an instant away from being as childlike (in many ways) as Prince Myshkin had judged her to be. This is definitely not a stereotypical role.