A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Idiot(s)”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 4*, ’15’).
I was a bit worried going into The Idiot(s) that I am sufficiently un-learned not to have read any of the books of Fyodor Dostoevsky. But I need not have worried. For this is a very easily accessible comedy/drama, beautifully shot and cleverly plotted that I thought was delightful.
I fear though that it might be a bit of a Marmite film for cinema audiences: there are some scenes in here which an audience will find upsetting and although one is historically accurate in its outcome, the cause seems to have been altered for dramatic effect. There is also number nine in a 2026 trend that I have been tracking, referenced in “Triggers” below!
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Anna Dostoevsky loves her husband Fyodor. Fyodor loves his wife, but he also loves gambling and booze. Living in self-imposed exile in Germany, Fyodor’s biggest obstacle to his creative progress is himself. Anna tries desperately to rid him of his procrastination so he can deliver a new novel and they can avoid destitution.
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. (This film has not yet received a classification by the BBFC, but I would expect it to be a 15 based on adult scenes and strong language.)
Talent:
Starring: Aimee Lou Wood, Johnny Flynn, Vicky Krieps, Paul Dano.
Directed by: Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert.
Written by: Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert, Kasper Bajon, Brid Arnstein.
Running Time: 1h 58m.
Review:
Positives:
- The production is lush and polished with very high production values and a vibrant colour palette. We open the film in dramatic style as the opening of the book, “The Idiot”, on a train approaching St. Petersburg on a “morning so damp and misty that it was only with great difficulty that the day succeeded in breaking”. We then cut to the railway station of Baden Baden in Switzerland to see Fyodor (Johnny Flynn) and his wife Anna (Aimee Lou Wood) actually arriving by train, her chiding the station staff for nearly losing the satchel containing the work of her “literary genius” husband. For Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (they always seem to use their full names in addressing each other!) is riding high off the success of his novel “Crime and Punishment”.
- The script brilliantly sets up conflicts between the characters. He spars with Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (Paul Dano) and there is a mutual attraction between Fyodor and Turgenev’s wife?/partner? (Vicky Krieps) that generates conflict between her and Anna. Anna claims that she “looks like a horse” where as Fyodor replies that no, “she looks like a gazelle”! Just the line to settle a jealous wife. Fyodor really is a complete dick, with his womanising and compulsive gambling, such that Anna should win the prize for most tolerant movie wife of 2026.
- The four actors in the lead roles are at the top of their respective games:
- It took me a long time to recognise Johnny Flynn (Emma, One Life) under his bushy bushy beard, but he is terrific as the exasperating Russian genius. A sequence where he recounts an impromptu story to a crowd of dinner guests about a lodger and a maid is memorable and first rate acting.
- Aimee Lou Wood (The White Lotus, Living) is also a revelation as Anna, delivering what I thought was a stonkingly funny and moving performance. She delivers comic lines with such perfect timing, she is a joy. When Fyodor is having an epileptic seizure on the floor, she just says dismissively to the gathering crowd “He’s just…. you know…”: a line that made me burst out laughing. Given Wood started her feature career with Uncle Vanya in 2020, this is a sort of return to the world of Russian authors!
- Vicky Krieps (Corsage, The Dead Don’t Hurt) is as brilliant as she always in as a giggling seductress who knows what she wants and sets out to get it.
- But star of the show for me was the wonderful Paul Dano (Love and Mercy, The Fabelmans) as Turgenev. I just love everything Dano does and here, with an uncanny likeness I thought to Ronald Lacey’s Nazi Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark, he is showstopping as the devious and supercilious writer, clearly NOT spending all of his money in the local casino. He achieves that masterly acting trick of doing virtually nothing with his face but everything with his eyes. Bizarrely, I couldn’t see that he had a credit in the film (he doesn’t appear on IMDB either)…. there is just a curious “And others….” at the end of the film’s cast list.
- The film has some really outstanding dream sequences, one set on a stage in front of the Baden crowd as the audience. They are surreal and unsettling, as the that merge back into reality.
- The production design and costuming is first rate, making me wonder if this is going to get some technical nominations at the upcoming Oscars. I loved the bizarre inclusion of stuffed animals on the top of the ladies’ hats. A ‘chocolate waterfall’ deserves an Oscar all of its own!
Negatives:
- There is a weird use of a famous song from the mid-80s which took me out of the historical drama in an unnecessary way.
- No spoilers, but the sad event in the second reel seems to be portrayed as a sudden surprise, but in reality it was something a bit different (see wiki here and the Trigger section below).
Triggers
Minor spoiler ahead (although its not a key character in the film). I find it amazing to report that this is yet again another film that features a canine death. If we count this film as being “2026” (it might actually not get a UK release until 2027) that makes this the ninth film that adds to the doesthedogdie.com tally for the year (the others being Die My Love, Sirāt, Shelter, Evil Dead Burn, The Last Viking, The Odyssey, The Last House and The Dog Stars. Just to pour fuel on the fire for animal lovers, this film also features the untimely demise of a feline friend too.
Major spoiler ahead: There is also an incident involving a baby’s death which may be upsetting for some viewers. (Portrayed as a cot death, the historical reality is that she died of pneumonia at 3 months.)
Summary Thoughts:
For the second time in a few weeks, an orange is presented as a special gift (the other being Pressure). And indeed this is a sweet treat of a movie that I found brilliant to look at and engrossing to follow. I think it *will* be a bit of a Marmite movie with cinema audiences, but I personally love Marmite!
Where to watch?
Trailer:
At the time of writing, there was no trailer available for the film.
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