Malmkrog

This article is about the film. For the village, see Malmkrog (village).

Malmkrog is a 2020 internationally co-produced drama film directed by Cristi Puiu.^[1]

Malmkrog
Film poster
Directed by	Cristi Puiu
Written by	Cristi Puiu
Produced by	Anca Puiu
Starring	Frédéric Schulz-Richard
Cinematography	Tudor Vladimir Panduru
Production companies	Bord Cadre Films Centre National du Cinéma Cinnamon Films
Release date	20 February 2020 (2020-02-20) (Berlin)
Running time	201 minutes
Country	Romania
Languages	Hungarian French Russian German

Set in turn-of-the-20th-century Transylvania, at the snowy hillside manor of a blithe aristocrat named Nikolai (Frédéric Schulz-Richard), the film follows for nearly the entirety of its 200 minutes a series of winding conversations between a group of bourgeois elite—among them a Russian general's wife (Diana Sakalauskaité), a devout young Christian girl (Marina Palii), a Franco-Russian nobleman (Ugo Broussot), and a middle-aged woman (Agathe Bosch) whose pessimistic worldview seems to embody the essence of Solovyov's book.^[2]

The conversations always return to a central topic: whether one should adopt a non-violent approach to the organisation of society (Tolstoy's attitude, which Solovyov abhorred), or approach the duty of fighting war in a fervently committed, Christian spirit.^[3]

It was shown in the Encounters section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, where it also won the Best Director Award.^[4][5]

Cast

• Frédéric Schulz-Richard as Nikolai
• Agathe Bosch as Madeleine
• Marina Palii as Olga
• Diana Sakalauskaité as Ingrida
• Ugo Broussot [fr] as Edouard
• István Téglás [ro] as István
• Zoe Puiu as Zoechka