One of the first-ever Russian horror films was this 1915 adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Mysterious Portrait.” The complete 44 minute version of THE PORTRAIT (POTRET) is long lost, with an eight minute abbreviation being its sole extant form for nearly 110 years—until August 30, 2023, when a newly restored 22 minute cut was released online by the Russian cult movie coalition From Outer Space (who in 2023 also did the honors for the previously lost 1924 Russian horror fest MOROZKO).
Gogol’s tale, initially published in 1835 and revised in 1842, was the admitted inspiration for THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, “Pickman’s Model” and many other classic tales. Its film history hasn’t been quite as varied (especially in light of Gogol’s “Viy,” the subject of a no-longer-extant 1909 adaptation that’s credited with being the premiere Russian horror film), but the story has inspired two made-for-TV adaptations, one from Czechoslovakia in 1972 and the other from USSR in 1987.
The version under review was directed by the pioneering animator Wladyslaw Starewicz (1882-1965), here making a rare foray into live action. It features Andrej Gromov as Chartkov, a impoverished artist who while browsing a junk shop happens upon a painting of an old man (Ivan Lazarev) with a horrifically compelling face. Chartkov uses his last pennies to purchase the portrait and takes it back to his house, where it assumes a disturbingly lifelike appearance. Chartkov covers the painting with a blanket but the eyes of its subject continue to haunt him, and eventually the man pictured in the portrait literally climbs out of the frame and drops a bag of coins…but then Chartkov wakes up and realizes he was dreaming.
It was at this point that the widely circulated eight minute version of THE PORTRAIT ended. The restoration continues on the following morning, when Chartkov’s landlord, accompanied by several policemen, shows up to demand Chartkov pay his rent. In the melee a coin bag closely resembling that of the dream is dislodged from behind the portrait. Chartkov uses the money to become a wealthy painter, but loses his mind upon seeing an especially beautiful painting by a Russian acquaintance, as he knows it’s better than anything he can do.
The succeeding scenes are, according to an onscreen proviso, a “free treatment” of the events of Gogol’s story. In what may or may not be intended as another dream sequence (in the story Chartkov becomes delusional and dies, followed by a supporting character filling us in on how the accursed portrait came to be) we’re thrust back in time and shown the subject of Chartkov’s portrait: an old man who asks an artist to render him immortal by painting his portrait, into which he literally disappears.
Such is THE PORTRAIT. It suffers from the fact that half its initial runtime is lost, with Gogol’s overriding theme, of the corrosive effects of commerce on the artist, obscured rather severely.
The first half, which takes place largely in a single room viewed from a single vantage point (broken up only by intertitles), is effective in its directness and audacity, with imagery that foreshadows films ranging from ORPHEE (1950) to RINGU (1998). The pieced-together second half is less affecting, although it’s headlined by the visually arresting Ivan Lazarev, whose features are authentically scary.
A newly minted avant-garde score by Ivan Bortnikov provides the soundtrack, and effectively so, imparting a deeply haunting mood in a manner the images alone don’t always accomplish.
Vital Statistics
THE PORTRAIT (PORTRET)
Director: Wladyslaw Starewicz
(Based on a story by Nikolai Gogol)
Cast: Andrej Gromov, Ivan Lazarev