Der Meister und Margarita / Мастер и Маргарита

RU 2023, 157 min., OmU, FSK 12, Director: Michael Lockshin, with: Evgeniy Tsyganov, Yulia Snigir, August Diehl et al.

Moscow in the 1930s: The work of a well-known writer is censored by the Soviet state and the premiere of his play is canceled. Inspired by his lover Margarita, the writer begins work on a new novel in which he has all the people from his real life appear in satirically exaggerated guises. The focus is on Woland as a mystical, dark force who visits Moscow to take revenge on all those responsible for the author's ruin.

The new film by Michael Lockshin ("Silver Skates") with August Diehl as the mysterious devil character Woland is based on the classic novel of the same name by writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who criticizes the Soviet totalitarian surveillance apparatus. Because of its unmistakable reference to the present day, this is one of the most courageous films from Russia.