Grigory Melekhov is the central character of the novel Quiet Flows the Don, unsuccessfully looking for his place in a changing world. In the context of historical events, he showed the difficult fate of the Don Cossack, who knows how to love passionately and selflessly fight.
History of creation
Conceiving a new novel, Mikhail Sholokhov did not imagine that the work would eventually turn into an epic. It all started innocently. In the middle of autumn 1925, the writer began the first chapters of Donshchina, which was the original title of the work in which the author wanted to show the life of the Don Cossacks during the years of the revolution. From that he began - the Cossacks went as part of the army to Petrograd. Suddenly, the author was stopped by the thought that readers are unlikely to understand the motives of the Cossacks in suppressing the revolution without background, and he put the manuscript in the far corner.
Only a year later, the idea fully matured: in the novel, Mikhail Alexandrovich wanted to reflect the life of individuals through the prism of historical events that occurred in the period from 1914 to 1921. The tragic fate of the main characters, including Grigory Melekhov, had to be written into the epic theme, and for this it was worth getting to know the customs and characters of the inhabitants of the Cossack farm. The author of The Quiet Don moved to his homeland, to the village of Vishnevskaya, where he plunged headlong into the life of the Don.
In search of bright characters and a special atmosphere that settled on the pages of the work, the writer traveled around the neighborhood, met with witnesses of the First World War and revolutionary events, collected a mosaic of tales, beliefs and folklore elements of local residents, and also stormed Moscow and Rostov archives in search of the truth about the life of those dashing years.
Finally, the first volume of The Quiet Flows the Don was published. Russian troops appeared in it on the fronts of the war. In the second book, the February coup and the October Revolution were added, the echoes of which reached the Don. Only in the first two parts of the novel, Sholokhov placed about a hundred heroes, later 70 more characters joined them. In total, the epic stretched into four volumes, the last one was completed in 1940.
The work was published in the publications "October", "Roman-gazeta", "New World" and "Izvestia", rapidly gaining recognition from readers. They bought up magazines, flooded editorial offices with reviews, and the author with letters. Soviet book readers perceived the tragedies of heroes as personal upheavals. Among the favorites, of course, was Grigory Melekhov.
It is interesting that Gregory was absent in the first drafts, but a character with that name was found in the writer's early stories - there the hero is already endowed with some features of the future "resident" of the "Quiet Don". Researchers of Sholokhov's work consider the Cossack Kharlampy Ermakov, who was sentenced to death in the late 1920s, to be the prototype of Melekhov. The author himself did not admit that it was this man who became the prototype of the book Cossack. Meanwhile, during the collection of the historical basis of the novel, Mikhail Alexandrovich met Yermakov and even corresponded with him.
Biography
The novel sets out the entire chronology of Grigory Melekhov's life before and after the war. The Don Cossack was born in 1892 on the Tatarsky farm (the village of Veshenskaya), while the writer does not indicate the exact date of birth. His father Pantelei Melekhov once served as a constable in the Ataman Life Guards Regiment, but was retired due to old age. The life of a young guy for the time being passes in serenity, in ordinary peasant affairs: mowing, fishing, housekeeping. At night - passionate meetings with the beautiful Aksinya Astakhova, a married lady, but passionately in love with a young man.
His father is dissatisfied with this cordial affection and hastily marries his son to an unloved girl - meek Natalya Korshunova. However, marriage does not solve the problem. Grigory understands that he cannot forget Aksinya, so he leaves his legal wife and settles with his mistress on the estate of the local pan. On a summer day in 1913, Melekhov becomes a father - his first daughter was born. The happiness of the couple turned out to be short-lived: life was destroyed by the outbreak of the First World War, which called Gregory to repay his debt to the Motherland.
Melekhov fought in the war selflessly and desperately, in one of the battles he was wounded in the eye. For the courage of the warrior, he was awarded the St. George Cross and promotion, and in the future, three more crosses and four medals will be added to the awards of the man. The hero’s acquaintance in the hospital with the Bolshevik Garanzha, who convinces him of the injustice of tsarist rule, turned the political views of the hero upside down.
Meanwhile, a blow awaits Grigory Melekhov's house - Aksinya, heartbroken (by the death of her little daughter), succumbs to the spell of the son of the owner of the Listnitsky estate. The common-law husband who arrived on a visit did not forgive the betrayal and returned to his legal wife, who later bore him two children.
In the outbreak of the Civil War, Gregory takes the side of the "Reds". But by 1918, he became disillusioned with the Bolsheviks and joined the ranks of those who launched an uprising against the Red Army on the Don, becoming a division commander. Even greater anger towards the Bolsheviks in the soul of the hero awakens the death of his older brother Petro at the hands of a fellow villager, an ardent supporter of Soviet power, Mishka Koshevoy.
Passions are also seething on the love front - Grigory cannot find peace and is literally torn between his women. Because of still living feelings for Aksinya, Melekhov cannot live in peace in his family. The constant infidelity of her husband pushes Natalia to an abortion, which destroys her. A man endures the premature death of a woman with difficulty, because he also had peculiar, but tender feelings for his wife.
The offensive of the Red Army on the Cossacks forces Grigory Melekhov to go on the run to Novorossiysk. There, driven into a dead end, the hero joins the Bolsheviks. 1920 was marked by the return of Gregory to his homeland, where he settled with his children at Aksinya. The new government began the persecution of the former "whites", and during the escape to the Kuban for a "quiet life" Aksinya was mortally wounded. After wandering around the world a little more, Grigory returned to his native village, because the new authorities promised an amnesty to the rebel Cossacks.
Mikhail Sholokhov put an end to the story at the most interesting place, without telling readers about the further fate of Melekhov. However, it is not difficult to guess what happened to him. Historians urge curious lovers of the writer's work to consider the date of death of the beloved character the year of the execution of his prototype - 1927.
Image
The author conveyed the difficult fate and internal changes of Grigory Melekhov through a description of his appearance. By the end of the novel, a handsome, carefree young man in love with life turns into a stern warrior with gray hair and a frozen heart:
“... knew that he would no longer laugh at him, as before; He knew that his eyes were hollow and his cheekbones were sharply sticking out, and in his eyes a light of senseless cruelty began to shine more and more often.
Gregory is a typical choleric: temperamental, quick-tempered and unbalanced, which manifests itself both in love affairs and in relations with the environment in general. The character of the protagonist of The Quiet Flows the Don is an alloy of courage, heroism and even recklessness, it combines passion and humility, gentleness and cruelty, hatred and infinite kindness.
Gregory is a typical choleric Sholokhov created a hero with an open soul, capable of compassion, forgiveness and humanity: Grigory is tormented by a caterpillar accidentally killed in the mowing, defends Franya, not being afraid of a whole platoon of Cossacks, saves Stepan Astakhov, his sworn enemy, Aksinya's husband, in the war
In search of the truth, Melekhov rushes from the Reds to the Whites, eventually becoming a renegade who is not accepted by either side. The man appears as a real hero of his time. His tragedy lies in history itself, when upheavals disturbed a calm life, turning peaceful workers into unhappy people. The spiritual quest of the character was accurately conveyed by the phrase of the novel:
"He stood on the edge in the struggle of two principles, denying both of them."
All illusions were dispelled in the battles of the civil war: anger towards the Bolsheviks and disappointment in the "whites" makes the hero look for a third way in the revolution, but he understands that in the "middle it is impossible - they will crush him." Once passionately loving life, Grigory Melekhov never finds faith in himself, remaining at the same time a folk character and an extra person in the current fate of the country.
Screen versions of the novel "Quiet Flows the Don"
The epic of Mikhail Sholokhov appeared on movie screens four times. Based on the first two books, a silent film was made in 1931, where the main roles were played by Andrei Abrikosov (Grigory Melekhov) and Emma Tsesarskaya (Aksinya). Rumor has it that, with an eye on the characters of the characters of this production, the writer created a sequel to The Quiet Flows the Don.
A poignant picture based on the work was presented to the Soviet audience in 1958 by the director. The beautiful half of the country fell in love with the hero in performance. A mustachioed handsome Cossack twisted love with, which convincingly appeared in the role of passionate Aksinya. Melekhov's wife Natalya played. The film's box of awards consists of seven awards, including a diploma from the Directors Guild of the USA.
Another multi-part film adaptation of the novel belongs to. Russia, Great Britain and Italy worked on the film "Quiet Flows the Don" in 2006. Approved for the main role and.
For "Quiet Don" Mikhail Sholokhov was accused of plagiarism. The "greatest epic" researchers considered stolen from a white officer who died in the Civil War. The author even had to temporarily postpone the work on writing the continuation of the novel, while a special commission investigated the information received. However, the problem of authorship has not yet been resolved.
Aspiring actor of the Maly Theater Andrey Abrikosov woke up famous after the premiere of The Quiet Flows the Don. It is noteworthy that before that, in the temple of Melpomene, he never went on stage - they simply did not give a role. The man also did not bother to get acquainted with the work, he read the novel when the shooting was already in full swing.
Quotes
"You have a smart head, but the fool got it."
"The blind man said, 'We'll see.'
“Like a steppe scorched by fires, Gregory’s life became black. He lost everything that was dear to his heart. Everything was taken away from him, everything was destroyed by a ruthless death. Only the children remained. But he himself still convulsively clung to the ground, as if in fact his broken life was of some value to him and to others.
"Sometimes, remembering your whole life, you look - and she is like an empty pocket, turned inside out."
“Life turned out to be sarcastic, wisely simple. Now it already seemed to him that from eternity there was no such truth in it, under the wing of which anyone could warm up, and, embittered to the extreme, he thought: everyone has his own truth, his own furrow.
“There is no truth in life. It can be seen whoever defeats whom will devour him ... And I was looking for the bad truth.
Grigory Melekhov is the main character of M. Sholokhov's epic novel "Quiet Don". His image cannot be called typical, because it also contains special individual features.
Grigory Melekhov is an ordinary Don Cossack who grew up in a fairly wealthy family with a patriarchal way of life. From the very first pages of the novel, he is depicted in everyday peasant life, which helps the reader to immediately see the main features of Gregory's character. It reveals love for nature and for all living things: “with a sudden feeling of acute pity,” he looks at a duckling accidentally cut by a scythe during a meadow mowing. In addition, sincerity and honesty are inherent in the hero. He forever retains his love for Aksinya in his soul, and he immediately admits to his wife Natalya that he does not feel anything for her: “And it’s a pity for you ... to be, for these days they became related, but there is nothing in my heart ... Empty.” However, I think that all this can be attributed to the typical features of the hero.
The individual features of Grigory Melekhov, in my opinion, include his desire to find his own way in life, to find himself. The hero is looking for the truth, despite all the difficulties and vicissitudes of fate. He is an uneducated and politically illiterate person, so he is easily instilled with different views on the war and life in general. However, Gregory does not give up, and when others offer him various paths, he firmly answers: “I myself am looking for an entrance.”
Throughout his life, the hero often commits terrible misdeeds, but Gregory looks for the root of all mistakes in himself, in his deeds. He is not without self-condemnation. The war could not ruin his soul and all the good and good that was originally in it. She broke the hero, but did not break him completely. By the end of the novel, for Melekhov, the home, family, and children become the most important values. War, murder and death only disgust him. Therefore, one can even say that Gregory is an epic hero who takes on all the historical responsibility. His image is equal to the image of the whole people. And Melekhov's path to the truth is a tragic path of human wanderings, full of mistakes and losses, evidence of a person's deep connection with history. This is the special individuality inherent only in the image of Gregory.
Melekhov is a complex hero, combining both typical and individual traits. However, this gives his image versatility and tragedy, makes it memorable and very original.
Sholokhov created a whole gallery of images in his novel Quiet Flows the Don. The heroes of the novel have become extraordinary characters in world literature.
The most controversial and attractive hero of the book is Grigory Melekhov. In the image of the hero, the author personified the individual character traits of a simple person. Melekhov is the most common Cossack who was born into a wealthy family. From early childhood, the hero lives a peasant life. It contains love for nature, pity for all living things. In addition, Gregory is very honest and sincere with everyone. After growing up, he falls in love with Aksinya and forever keeps love in his heart. Aksinya was married. Despite her marriage, Gregory did not try to hide his feelings. Melekhov married Natalya and confessed to her that he did not love her.
The hero was distinguished as an economic, brave and hard-working guy. Once in the center of the war, the young Cossack behaved like a staunch and courageous fighter. He was smart, fearless and determined, and proud at the same time. He always acted honorably and adhered to the principles he learned in childhood.
Melekhov joined the ranks of the Red Revolutionaries. However, having learned that the revolutionaries support violence and cruelty, Gregory was greatly disappointed. Before his eyes, the Red Army killed all unarmed prisoners and shot all the Cossacks, plundered the Cossack villages and raped women.
During the battles, the hero constantly saw the ruthlessness and cruelty of the white and red revolutionaries. Therefore, class hatred for him seemed meaningless. In his heart he wanted peace, love and simple work. Gregory did not know how to understand the contradictions of society. He took everything that happened close to his heart, and therefore often changed camp. The hero did not know how to understand his thoughts and began to obey the will of other people.
Melekhov did not want to betray his principles and himself, and therefore became an outcast in the camps of the revolutionaries. To know the truth, he went over to the ranks of the white revolutionaries. He became a stranger to everyone and constantly experienced loneliness.
Some time later, he attempted to escape with Aksinya. But on the way, a misfortune happened to his beloved, which led to her death. Instead of a strong and brave fighter, Gregory turned into a heartbroken man who will suffer until the end of his life.
By the end of the work, Melekhov completely abandoned weapons and war. He returned to his native lands because he could not accept the cruelty of the mortal world.
Option 2
Mikhail Sholokhov wrote the most interesting epic novel Quiet Don. A simple, life story about ordinary people who are destined to experience more than one hardship. Life is difficult, and the author of the Quiet Don wanted to demonstrate this to us.
Quiet Don about ordinary people, one of these was Grigory Melekhov. The fate of Gregory is intertwined with many life events. He is the kind of person who searches for the truth all his life. He is looking for justice, honesty, he wants to know the answers to many life questions. Grigory Melekhov is a controversial personality, certain people condemn him, and many praise him, nevertheless he is a man, and a man is constantly changing.
It was difficult for him to cope with the realization that he had killed a man. He never imagined that the time would come when he would have to kill. He searched for the truth, but did not find it either in the environment of the whites or in the environment of the reds during the civil war. Thus, it can be said that he was not for a certain side, he searched, but did not find those who were right in honor ...
He was often unlucky in life. He encountered difficulties along the way, but always overcame them. It was difficult, but he managed. Grigory Melekhov got along with many, he was surrounded by many of his friends. Grigory's best friend can be considered Mikhail Koshevoy, but it is his best friend who kills Grigory's brother. Is it possible after that to consider Michael a friend?
But the main interweaving in the epic novel was the love story of Grigory Melekhov. He was a free man and no girl was able to rein him in. But he was popular with the girls. He had 2 companions in life, Aksinya and Natalya. Grigory's parents forced Natalya to marry, but he could refuse, but did not do it. He claimed, and everyone knew that he did not love Natalia. They still had two children.
Grigory had a beloved - Aksinya. She was the inspiration for him. In their relationship there was passion, love, mutual attraction. It was a real relationship, but Grigory still could not decide with whom he needed to be - with his wife Natalya or his mistress Aksinya. Gregory even took birth with Aksinya. They worked on the field, being pregnant Aksinya also helped. But suddenly the fights start. He took her in a wagon, went to the village, but did not have time to get there, he had to take delivery himself.
Grigory Melekhov is a controversial character, with a very difficult fate, but personally I respect him for the fact that he never changed his principles. He always sought to achieve truth and justice.
Composition The image and characteristics of Melekhov
In one of Sholokhov's most famous novels, the author, revealing one of the problems - the relationship between the individual and the people, with special artistic skill showed the tragedy of the life path of Grigory Melekhov. The character and beliefs of the hero are significantly different from Peter. The writer, singling out the 19-year-old Grishka from the Melekhov family, shows his amazing attractiveness. The appearance of Gregory is set off not by what class he belongs to, but by a peculiar character.
Being in his youth, he was a hardworking guy, subtly feeling his native nature. Remarkable abilities, directness and openness are continuously noted by Sholokhov. He opposes the cruelty of his villagers, stands up for Aksinya because of the terrible treatment of her husband, and contemptuously treats the act of Daria, who kills Kotlyarov without a twinge of conscience.
Gregory sympathizes with those who are always courageous and maintain their dignity in the most dangerous life situations. He always denounced cowardice and weak-heartedness, and at various stages of his quest he held firm. Gregory's patriotism is especially clearly shown. So, for example, he cannot see the presence of English troops on the Don and speaks disapprovingly about them. Together with the positive qualities of a gifted person, a self-willed character was early discovered in him. As a worker, he is drawn to the best and new trends, however, his interest in possessiveness draws him back, confuses him in choosing the right path. He hesitates for a long time between the two political camps and searches for his own path in the revolution.
The main character can't figure out his personal relationships either. He is drawn to Natalya by the vein of the owner, home comfort, children. Aksinya is close to him with her ardent love and love of freedom. This position of Gregory between two women is explained by the desire to reconcile love for Aksinya with family traditions. The author showed on the image of Gregory the features characteristic of the middle peasants. He showed his views and moods, which distinguished the small owner. The tragedy of his fate was manifested in the fact that he was completely lost in his quest, opposed historical events, against the people of which he was a native.
Cossack Grigory Melekhov is one of the central characters in Mikhail Sholokhov's historical epic novel Quiet Flows the Don. The storyline of this work is based on his life path, the formation and formation of Melekhov as a person, his love, successes and disappointments, as well as the search for truth and justice.
Difficult life trials fall to the share of this simple Don Cossack, because he falls into a whirlwind of bloody events of the early twentieth century: the First World War, the revolution, the civil war in Russia. The millstones of the war, which the main character gets into, seem to “grind” and cripple his soul, leaving their bloody trail forever.
Characteristics of the main character
(Pyotr Glebov as Grigory Melekhov, frame from the film "Quiet Flows the Don", USSR 1958)
Grigory Panteleevich Melekhov is the most common Don Cossack. For the first time we meet him at the age of twenty in his native Tatarsky farm of the Cossack village of Veshenskaya, located on the banks of the Don River. The guy is not from a rich, and not from a poor family, you can say an average peasant, but he lives in abundance, there is a younger sister Dunya and an older brother Peter. Melekhov, a quarter of the Turks, according to his grandmother, has an attractive and slightly wild appearance: dark skin, aquiline nose, jet-black curly hair, expressive almond-shaped eyes.
At first, Gregory is shown to us as an ordinary guy living on a farm. He has certain household duties, immersed in his worries and daily activities. Especially about his life, he does not bother, he lives as the traditions and customs of the Cossack village dictate. Even the violent passion that broke out between the young Cossack and the married neighbor Aksinya does not change anything in his life. At the insistence of his father, he marries the unloved Natalya Korshunova, and, as is customary among young Cossacks, begins preparations for military service. It turns out that during this period of his quiet and measured life, he limply and mechanically fulfills what was intended for him, and does not decide anything special in his life.
(Melekhov at war)
However, everything changes when Melekhov enters the battlefields of the First World War. Here he shows himself as a brave and courageous warrior, defender of the Fatherland, for which he receives a well-deserved rank of officer. However, in his heart Melekhov is the most ordinary worker, accustomed to working on the ground, taking care of his household, but war comes and not a shovel, but a gun is put into his calloused hands from work and ordered to destroy the enemy. For Gregory, the first killed Austrian was a real shock, and his death was a tragedy that he experienced again and again. Questions about the meaning of war begin to torment him, why do people kill each other and who needs it, what is his personal role in this bloody chaos? So he begins to grow up and live a more conscious life. Little by little, his soul becomes stale and tempered by severe trials, but all the same, in its depths, he retains both conscience and humanity.
Life throws him from one extreme to another, in the civil war he fights on the side of the whites, then joins the Budennovsky detachment, then into bandit formations. He is no longer just going with the flow, but confidently and consciously looking for his own path in life. Distinguished by a sharp mind and observation, "honest to the bottom" Melekhov immediately sees the deceit and empty promises of the Bolsheviks, the bestial cruelty of the bandits and cannot understand the "truth" of the noble officers. Only one thing matters to him in this insane chaos of fratricidal war, this is his father's house and his usual, peaceful work in his native land.
(Yevgeny Tkachuk plays Grigory Melekhov, still from the film "Quiet Flows the Don", Russia 2015)
As a result, he escapes from the hateful Fomin gang and dreams of returning home and living a quiet life with Aksinya, not killing anyone, but simply working on his land. That's just for her, he is ready to shed the last drop of blood, to kill anyone who encroaches on her. This is how the war changed the once ordinary hard worker, who keenly felt the beauty of the surrounding nature and from the bottom of his heart regrets the duckling he accidentally hacked to death.
On the way home, a huge emotional shock awaits him, Aksinya dies from a bullet, his love collapses, the hope for a happy and free life dies. Crushed and unfortunate, he finally reaches the threshold of his native home, where he is met by his surviving son and the land, waiting for its owner.
The image of the hero in the work
(Gregory with his son)
The whole truth of that terrible and bloody time in the history of the Cossack Don was shown by the outstanding Soviet writer Mikhail Sholokhov in the form of a simple Cossack Grigory Melekhov. All its contradictions, complex spiritual throwing and experiences are described by the author with amazing psychological authenticity and historical validity.
It is impossible to say unequivocally that Melekhov is a negative or a positive hero. Sometimes his actions are terrible, and sometimes noble and generous. A simple Cossack and hard worker, accustomed to work from morning to night, he becomes a hostage to those bloody historical events that the entire Russian people experienced. The war broke and crippled him, took his closest and dearest people, forced him to do terrible things, but he did not break and managed to retain those particles of goodness and light that were once in him. In the end, he understands that the most important value for a person is his family, home and native land, and weapons, murders and death cause only disgust and horror in him.
The image of Melekhov, a simple "farmer man in uniform" embodies the long-suffering fate of the entire simple Russian people, and his difficult life path is the path of struggle, searching, tragic mistakes and bitter experience, and finally knowing the truth and himself.
The first film adaptation - 1931. Historical background: The years 1930-31 were the years of the "great turning point", complete collectivization and liquidation of the kulaks as a class.
The second film adaptation - 1955-1958. Historical background: the death of IV Stalin, the processes of liberalization in the domestic and foreign policy of the USSR, the beginning of the "Khrushchev thaw".
The third film adaptation: - 1990-1992. Historical background: Declaration of Independence of Russia, political chaos, reforms.
Grigory Melekhov, Don Cossack
In the first film adaptation of The Quiet Flows the Don, an unknown actor played the main role -.
In 1925, Abrikosov came to Moscow to enter the theater studio, but was late. Accidentally saw an advertisement for recruitment to the film studio of A.S. Khokhlova, he went to study there, although he knew nothing about cinema. Since 1926, he began working on the theater stage, becoming an employee of the Maly Theater studio. However, the novice actor was not given roles.
From the memoirs of Andrei Abrikosov:
“In the summer, it should be the twenty-ninth, for sure, I’m not mistaken, the directors of the then widely known painting and Ivan Pravov Started filming "The Quiet Don". Many actors immediately poured into the studio.
I went and try my luck. Then I worked at the studio of the Maly Theater. Not yet considered an actor. fluttered. He was shy, timid and had the remotest idea of cinema. Yes, and it turned out that I was late - all the performers have already been recruited. They did not have only an actor for the role of Grigory Melekhov. I was about to leave when I heard: "Wait a minute. Maybe you will come. Let's try. Have you read The Quiet Flows the Don"? I wanted to frankly confess, but I was cunning. And I see, I was immediately invited for a test: I had to play a quarrel between Gregory and his father. I was made up, dressed, told about the tasks of the episode. And I tried, climbed out of my skin! Yes! He banged his fists on the table, slammed the door, gesticulated, struck a pose. It seemed to me that this is exactly what is needed in the cinema, but it turned out - stamps. There was no question of any truth of the image. I knew absolutely nothing about Gregory. I played and felt like a winner. And how offensive and, most importantly, incomprehensible the refusal seemed to me. A month has passed. I went to play with the theater to the south. I am lying on the top bunk and suddenly I see the Quiet Don in the hands of one of the passengers. I asked my neighbor for a book. He began to read, then began to swallow separate pieces at random. "Fate!" - pounded in the temples, as much as the heart went cold. Suddenly I understood a lot and decided! I packed my things, begged the administration, and got off at the first stop. He returned to Moscow and - directly to the studio. Lucky there. The performer of the role of Melekhov still could not be found.
I said, let's audition for Gregory again. Now I'm ready!"
And fortune finally smiled on the young actor - who did not play a single role in the theater, Abrikosov was approved for the role of Grigory Melekhov in the silent film "Quiet Don", striking the directors Olga Preobrazhenskaya and Ivan Pravov with the similarity with their idea of Sholokhov's hero. The release of the film in 1931 brought the actor wide popularity. He managed to show the strong but controversial character of Gregory, who is considered one of the best among the film adaptations of the novel.
According to Andrei Abrikosov, Grigory Melekhov is one of his favorite film roles. And he named his son - Gregory ...
Surprisingly, the roads of Andrei Abrikosov and the performer of the role of Grigory Melekhov crossed in the second film adaptation of The Quiet Don. No less amazing in its "similarity" is the path of these wonderful actors to their main role in the movie.
From the memoirs of Pyotr Glebov (based on the book by Y. Paporov "Peter Glebov. The fate of an actor ..."):
“I met Andrei Lvovich Abrikosov when I was twelve years old and was immediately captivated by his masculine beauty. Most of all I was fascinated by a charming smile. a strong voice with some kind of nobly colored sound.
He came to our village in the winter with a group of actors from the Blue Blouse. With passion he sawed birch firewood with me. We were ten years apart.
My brother Grisha brought him to our family when they attended classes together with Zinaida Sergeevna Sokolova, Stanislavsky's sister. A group of assistants from the future studio of K. S. Stanislavsky worked there. Then, when I saw Abrikosov in the role of Grigory Melekhov in the film "Quiet Don", I wanted to be like Andrei.
It was his first role, but it stunned me, and I fell in love with my older friend like a teenager. It made me want to be an actor even more."
In 1940, Pyotr Glebov graduated from the Stanislavsky Opera and Drama Studio. Acting fate was not easy at first. Movie episodes, small roles in the Moscow Theater. K.S. Stanislavsky. Then the war began, and Pyotr Petrovich, along with other young actors, volunteered for the front. He served in the anti-aircraft artillery regiment, and at the end of the war began to combine service with acting. The news of the Victory came during the play "Three Sisters". Both the audience and the actors in stage costumes ran out of the theater, mingling with the cheering crowd.
Another ten years have passed, not marked for Glebov by bright roles ....
Based on the materials of the book by Y. Paporov "Peter Glebov. An actor's fate ...":
In the summer of 1956, a friend of Pyotr Glebov, actor Alexander Shvorin, offered to go with him to the "Det-Film", where they auditioned for Grigory Melekhov: "You can easily play a Cossack officer there. Come tomorrow at nine."
At the Film Studio. Gorky was noisier than usual. On that day, director Sergei Gerasimov continued to select actors for roles and for participation in episodes and extras of the film adaptation of Sholokhov's "Quiet Flows the Don" conceived by him.
Pyotr Glebov also came up to the director's assistant's table. Pomrezh Glebov really seemed like an excellent Cossack officer from the entourage of General Listnitsky, who was supposed to be played by the actor A. Shatov. Glebov was dressed and taken to the pavilion. There immediately began a rehearsal of an episode in which the officers, trying on the text, played preference and loudly argued about the February revolution. Sergei Gerasimov was in a very dejected state, close to despair, since all the deadlines had already passed, and a worthy performer for the main role of Melekhov had not yet been approved. Suddenly, Gerasimov heard the voice of one of the officers, who seemed to him very suitable for Melekhov. The assistant explained that this was the Stanislavsky theater artist Glebov, who was trying out for the role of the second officer. The director demanded to "give full light". When the light flashed on, the director did not find on Glebov's face a single characteristic feature described by Sholokhov. However, the eyes were attractive, and the voice sounded simple, not theatrical, and the actor's hands seemed especially "Cossack" to the director. Despite the objections of the second director, Gerasimov appointed make-up tests.
And then Glebov saw the make-up artist Alexei Smirnov winking conspiratorially at him. When they were alone, the makeup artist suggested to Glebov:
"Appear on Monday at my studio an hour earlier. I will make you up so that Sholokhov himself recognizes Melekhov in you." And indeed, he made such a make-up that Gerasimov was simply dumbfounded - Glebov was even better than in the illustrations of the book "Quiet Flows the Don" by artist O. Vereisky. For a month, Glebov "tried out" in scenes of different psychology and age, the director wanted to be completely convinced that the forty-year-old actor would be able to truthfully play the twenty-year-old Grigory. But doubts remained, and Gerasimov appointed a reading of Sholokhov's text. In less than twenty minutes, his doubts were completely dispelled - Grigory Melekhov was found. It remained only to get the approval of Mikhail Sholokhov and the director invited the writer to watch screen tests. After the very first shots, Sholokhov's confident voice was heard: "So it's him! He is. A real Cossack." And Peter Glebov was approved for the role and work began, which lasted almost two years ...
Peter Glebov: "We worked without understudies. I had to learn how to ride. I had a kind, smart horse. I fell in love with him. It was a pity to part with him at the end of filming."
Glebov was convinced of Glebov's ability to sit in the saddle after filming the very first, very important extras. The artist Pyotr Glebov conducted the first equestrian battle of Melekhov with great force, which shocked even the director.
Pyotr Glebov: “On the set, I lived the life of Grigory Melekhov, suffered from his doubts, loved him with love ... One scene was very memorable. A drunken Cossack revelry in a hut. The third series of the film. My idea was. the Cossacks often gathered at the bank in the evenings, drank wine, sang choral songs, and I loved to sing with them. Well, Gerasimov agreed: "Only that the song was heavy, sad, about fate." I asked the old women on the farm, and one suggested a song to me "The Canary Bird". The song is both riotous and piercingly melancholy. And at the end of the third series, when the scene of drunken revelry and complete slash is already: it is not known where and for whom to go - here are red ones, here are white ones, Grigory sings: “Fly, bird-ashka, ka-anary, fly high up the mountain ... sing a song about misfortune about mine ... ""
Gerasimov shot the film with passion. He did not admit to his colleagues that he was worried about how ridiculous the fate of the Cossacks was after the time described by Sholokhov in The Quiet Don. With special warmth, Gerasimov, together with the actor, tried to properly display the image of Grigory Melekhov, a worthy person in all respects, on the screen.
Sergey Gerasimov: "I unconditionally believe that for Glebov the luck of the role of Melekhov is not accidental. He knew a lot about Melekhov even before he met with the role. And then, apparently, deeply sympathizing with him, fell in love with this character. I always think about the actor, as about the author of the image. Therefore, I rejoice sincerely, because life brought me together with a performer standing in such a position. I thank fate for giving me the opportunity to work with Peter Glebov. "
And finally, another version of the performer of the role of Grigory Melekhov is Rupert Everett.
Rupert Everett (Rupert Everett) was born May 29, 1959 in a wealthy and privileged family in Norfolk, UK, studied at the prestigious Catholic Ampleforth College. At the age of 15, he left college and entered the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and honed his acting skills by studying at the Glasgow Citizen's Theatre. He became famous for his role in the London production of "Another Country" in 1982. The debut in the film version of the same performance two years later made Everett one of the brightest rising stars in Britain.
In 1990, Rupert Everett, an aristocrat and esthete, doomed to play kings and lords, received an offer to star in the role of Grigory Melekhov.
Rupert Everett (based on various interviews): "When I was invited to star in Sholokhov's novel, I was very surprised: it seemed to me that I was not very suitable for the role of Grigory Melekhov, the Russian Cossack. I was stunned. We have nothing in common. I was , probably the strangest choice for this role.I understand that this is a dream role for any actor, but it is also a terrible role.After reading the novel, and more than once, I was still able to approach this role in a very limited way ."
Now it is difficult to understand why the choice of Sergei Bondarchuk fell on this particular actor. Of course, the director was bound by the terms of the contract concluded with Vincenzo Rispoli's company - after all, one of the main conditions of the contract was the participation of foreign stars capable of providing wide distribution in the West. Perhaps the director saw some features of the brutal Grishka Melekhov in the face of the British dandy. Perhaps the choice was simply imposed on him ...
Rupert Everett (based on various interviews): “When director Sergei Bondarchuk, a very elderly man, found out that he had invited an actor with a non-traditional sexual orientation to play Grigory Melekhov, he almost died. But I turned out to be the best adapted to Spartan life, thanks to my childhood in the monastery school. In the first week, a tenant of a neighboring apartment died in a fire. His body and charred furniture were dragged up the stairs for a long time, then the body was taken away, and the furniture was thrown in the yard. It was summer. In autumn, a mattress with a burnt hole, a sofa and a standard lamp were covered with leaves , in winter - it was covered with snow, and in the spring it was finally washed away somewhere. And my assistant, who cooked for me, was almost stabbed to death for giving leftover food to pigeons, and not to beggars. The third strong impression was the incessant cold. But I still liked it terribly.We were all involved in the process of film production, in discussions with Sergei Bondarchuk, in the madness of Mosfilm.
For me, shooting in "Quiet Don" and living in Russia was an important turning point in my life, an amazing experience. I lived in a very interesting time: the Soviet era was not over yet, but changes were already brewing. To be there then and realize that you are one of the very few people who have experienced it... Real exclusivity! Real glamour!
You know, Chekhov always surprised me before. His character can be absolutely happy and totally unhappy for one hour. How does it work? Mystery. For me, this is a manifestation of the Russian mentality. In America, in England, people are trying to find a rationale for such a rapid change in the emotional background. When I lived in Russia, I realized that it was impossible to comprehend this, but there is a problem: for Russian people, the rise is really followed by a rapid decline. I also began to experience something similar - from euphoria to depression and back.
Sergei Bondarchuk was an incredibly talented, strong, temperamental person. He was merciless with his actors. I also got it from him - then it seemed that I did not fit the role of Grigory Melekhov at all. I didn't understand how to play it. I repeatedly re-read the novel before my arrival in Moscow, and on the plane, and already being here. I kept trying to figure out why they invited me? Yes, this role is a dream for any actor. But what a difficult one! There are such passions, sufferings, doubts, throwings that a person who was not born in Russia will never play! After all, all this must be understood, passed through oneself. At least that's what I used to think. But, in the end, he seemed to cope with the role."
