Available online
Description
This 25-minute play is based on Dostoevsky's novel The Gambler. Dostoevsky lived his life on the edge of disaster, financial, political and emotional. The Gambler is about his gambling and his lovi...ng. Dostoevsky's widow, Anna, played by Dorothy Tutin, recalls her relationship with this complicated man.
This 25-minute play is based on Dostoevsky's novel The Gambler. Dostoevsky lived his life on the edge of disaster, financial, political and emotional. The Gambler is about his gambling and his lovi...ng. Dostoevsky's widow, Anna, played by Dorothy Tutin, recalls her relationship with this complicated man.
| Module code and title: | U201, Risk |
|---|---|
| Item code: | U201; 03 |
| First transmission date: | 25-03-1981 |
| Published: | 1981 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:30 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Richard Argent |
| Contributor: | Jack Dowie |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Chance; Dostoevsky; Gambling; Roulette |
| Footage description: | The scene is set in a roulette room in a casino during the nineteenth century. Jack Dowie describes Dostoevsky's obsession with roulette and his relationship with his second wife Anna Grigoryevna. Dorothy Tutin, playing the role of Anna Dostoevsky talks about Dostoevsky, his obsession with roulette and risk, his outlook on life and how she came to work with him. In the roulette room Alexi, the hero of Dostoevsky's novel The Gambler, is seen at the table, gambling. Anna describes her feelings towards this character and Dostoevsky. She talks about his epilepsy, her love for him and his need to convince himself of the futility of winning at roulette. The programme now proceeds with a dramatisation of the main theme of the novel The Gambler. Alexi is shown at the roulette table, and his devotion to Polina is revealed. He is winning money for her for a reason which remains unexplained. Anna Dostoevsky describes Fyodor's passion for roulette, how it tormented him. Later Alexi returns to his room only to find Polina waiting for him with a letter she has received from her former lover De Grieux. To enable her to buy back her honour Alexi goes to the casino and wins enough money for her to pay back her debt to De Grieux. Back in his room Polina and Alexi first have a fight and then declare their love for each other. After making love, Alexi is full of remorse. They argue again and Polina leaves Alexi. He returns to the casino. Anna Dostoevsky talks again about her husband's despair and how he finally overcame his compulsion to gamble. |
| Production number: | FOUD011F |
| Videofinder number: | 1312 |
| Available to public: | no |
