What is it about?
This article compares Andrei Zvyagintsev's 2014 film "Leviathan" to Heinrich von Kleist's novella "Michael Kohlhaas" (1810). I explain the Kleistian subtext in the film, for instance in their shared investigation of the nature of power and authority, as well as the significant ways in which the film diverges from Kleist's novella.
Featured Image
Photo by Kirill Prikhodko on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Although the connections between "Leviathan" and "Michael Kohlhaas" have been mentioned before, this article teases out in more detail the relationship between the film and the novella. Along the way, it also shows how the film can be interpreted, not just as an attack on Putin's political system, but as a universal commentary on the question of authority and resistance to it; on the relationship between church and state; and on the ways in which political actions carry repercussions into one's personal life.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Righteous Rebels: Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas and Andrei Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan, November 2023, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004686557_013.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
