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Crime and Punishment

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Overview

Crime and Punishment is a two-part British television crime drama series, based upon the 1866 novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, that first broadcast on BBC2 on 12 February 2002. The novel was adapted for television by playwright Tony Marchant, and was directed by Julian Jarrold. John Simm stars as Rodya Raskolnikov, a former student who plans the murder of a pawnbroker to alleviate his financial problems, but also as an existential exercise, feeling himself able to commit such acts without guilt, remorse or justification. The series was broadcast over two consecutive nights, airing in the 9:00-10:30pm slot. The series was released on DVD on 25 August 2008, via 2|Entertain. Production The series was filmed in St. Petersburg. Simm said of his role as Raskolnikov; "The hard job for me is to make the viewer understand why Raskolnikov kills. But that is helped by seeing the place that he has to live in, it was absolutely disgusting. He is a very intelligent guy, who is slowly driven to madness by the things he sees around him." Reception The series gathered mixed reviews in the press, with The Guardian claiming that "As Raskolnikov, the murderer, John Simm is the spindle the whole thing whirls around. He gives a vivid performance and looks like a vicious angel. In the current Augean state of the stables, I am not able to find fault with this well-bred winner"; while The Telegraph were more scathing, writing "It's as if scriptwriter Tony Marchant and director Julian Jarrold had decided to take the setting and crime-drama structure of Crime and Punishment and ditch the philosophical core, the engine that gives everything meaning."

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“All is in a man's hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that's an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most.”
— Ch. 1; variant translation: It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of.Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.
“"Ah, it's not picturesque, not aesthetically attractive! I fail to understand why it is more honourable to shell some besieged town than to destroy by the blows of an axe."”
— Ch. 7
“Raskolnikov refused the water with his hand, and softly and brokenly, but distinctly said: "It was I who killed the old pawnbroker woman and her sister Lizaveta with an axe and robbed them."”
— Ch. 8
“Mere existence had always been too little for him; he had always wanted more. Perhaps it was just because of the strength of his desires that he had thought himself a man to whom more was permissible than to others.”
— Pt. II
“They were both pale and thin; but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life. They were renewed by love. The heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other.”
— Pt. II

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

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Overview

Crime and Punishment is a two-part British television crime drama series, based upon the 1866 novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, that first broadcast on BBC2 on 12 February 2002. The novel was adapted for television by playwright Tony Marchant, and was directed by Julian Jarrold. John Simm stars as Rodya Raskolnikov, a former student who plans the murder of a pawnbroker to alleviate his financial problems, but also as an existential exercise, feeling himself able to commit such acts without guilt, remorse or justification. The series was broadcast over two consecutive nights, airing in the 9:00-10:30pm slot. The series was released on DVD on 25 August 2008, via 2|Entertain. Production The series was filmed in St. Petersburg. Simm said of his role as Raskolnikov; "The hard job for me is to make the viewer understand why Raskolnikov kills. But that is helped by seeing the place that he has to live in, it was absolutely disgusting. He is a very intelligent guy, who is slowly driven to madness by the things he sees around him." Reception The series gathered mixed reviews in the press, with The Guardian claiming that "As Raskolnikov, the murderer, John Simm is the spindle the whole thing whirls around. He gives a vivid performance and looks like a vicious angel. In the current Augean state of the stables, I am not able to find fault with this well-bred winner"; while The Telegraph were more scathing, writing "It's as if scriptwriter Tony Marchant and director Julian Jarrold had decided to take the setting and crime-drama structure of Crime and Punishment and ditch the philosophical core, the engine that gives everything meaning."

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“All is in a man's hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that's an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most.”
— Ch. 1; variant translation: It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of.Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.
“"Ah, it's not picturesque, not aesthetically attractive! I fail to understand why it is more honourable to shell some besieged town than to destroy by the blows of an axe."”
— Ch. 7
“Raskolnikov refused the water with his hand, and softly and brokenly, but distinctly said: "It was I who killed the old pawnbroker woman and her sister Lizaveta with an axe and robbed them."”
— Ch. 8
“Mere existence had always been too little for him; he had always wanted more. Perhaps it was just because of the strength of his desires that he had thought himself a man to whom more was permissible than to others.”
— Pt. II
“They were both pale and thin; but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life. They were renewed by love. The heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other.”
— Pt. II

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Not who you're looking for? Others named Crime and Punishment: 1866 Russian-language novel by Dostoyevsky · 1923 film directed by Robert Wiene · play written by Curt Columbus · 2002 film by Menahem Golan