Johnny Flynn and Aimee Lou Wood star as the seminal Russian author and his devoted, under-appreciated wife Anna in a satirical, unexpectedly romantic portrait from Polish duo Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert.
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As biographical films on major historical figures go, “The Idiot(s)” starts off with an advantage over most, since it covers only a finite, conflict-laden passage of its subject’s storied life. This enjoyably off-kilter dramedy then further ingratiates itself with viewers bored of traditionalist hagiographies, because it also functions as a biting exercise in separating the art from the artist.
That’s not precisely with the intention of justifying one’s enjoyment of a creator’s body of work despite their unsavory personal past; on the contrary, the hope is that even as the less flattering characteristics of seminal Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky are exposed, one can still find value in his perspective. The image of the bearded wise man behind literary landmarks that dissect the human condition is exchanged for that of a wretched gambler, a drunken fool drowning in his childish arrogance, thus deliberately detaching him from the grandeur of his oeuvre.
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