Author(s): Zsuzsanna KALAFATICS

Title: PÁRBESZÉD A CSEHOVI SZÖVEGGEL KIRILL SZEREBRENNYIKOV RAGIN CÍMŰ FILMJÉBEN

Source: P. Baka, D. Borbélyová, A. Csehiová, K. Józsa, K. Kéri, B. Kiss, O. Magirovskaya, Y. Orsovics, B. Pukánszky, Sz. Simon, P. Šenkár, A. Tóth-Bakos, A. Tóthné Litovkina, A. Varga (eds.): 17th International Scientific Conference of J. Selye University. Sessions of the Faculty of Education. Conference Proceedings

ISBN: 978-80-8122-539-0

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36007/5390.2026.130

Publisher: J. Selye University, Komárno, Slovakia

PY, pages: 2025, 130-137

Published on-line: 2026

Language: hu

Abstract: The article provides an analysis of Kirill Serebrennikov’s film Ragin (2004), the first Russian screen adaptation of Chekhov’s novella Ward No. 6. Conceived within the project Anthology of Russian Madness, the film displaces the narrative into 1904, the year of Chekhov’s death and the eve of the first Russian revolution. By introducing additional characters and historical references, the adaptation reconfigures the original text, shifting emphasis to questions of medical discourse, freedom, and social coercion. The study demonstrates how Chekhovian motifs – particularly the dialogue between Ragin and Gromov and the blurred boundary between “normality” and “pathology” – are reframed within a post-Soviet cultural horizon. Stylistically, the film employs theatricalization, audiovisual estrangement, and Alexei Aigui’s music to construct a distinctive cinematic language. Thus, Ragin is interpreted as an authorial re-reading of Chekhov that expands the possibilities of literary adaptation in contemporary Russian cinema.

Keywords: film adaptation, A.P. Chekhov, Ward No. 6, Kirill Serebrennikov, Ragin, psychoanalysis, postmodern irony

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