A masterpiece of Soviet film adaptations of ancient-domestic theatrical classics, filling the gap in school education, when some Podkolesin with the incomprehensible Agafya Tikhonovna, not to mention the others, passed by consciousness unnoticed. Authentic, apparently, urban landscapes, costumes, old-fashioned speech patterns and the darkness of living quarters create the effect of the presence in St. Petersburg of the era of Nicholas I from the first shots. A honed dramaturgical text with pauses and quarrels - in this case in need of actors to convey its nuances - Gogol, an outstanding master of the Russian artistic word, who started it as usual with mines of sophisticated stalk.
The most successful choice of actors for the main roles looks like a long time put an end to the perception of the images of their characters: almost browless Kryuchkova “in the body”, without makeup, brilliantly portrayed a trembling deer in anticipation of a possible marriage – aspiring to him by need, it fits tallweight Alexei Petrenko with a spit on his head in a complex image of a hesitating groom-brake with a thought jumping in the process of explaining with the bride. The specifics of difficult work with problematic clients of the St. Petersburg matchmaker of that time performed by Talyzina. Bright Oleg Borisov.