The Idiot(s) is an insufferable film about insufferable people which goes around in circles writes Carter Smith
After what seemed like a lifetime of watching Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s The Idiot(s), a flash on the person’s phone next to me went off – an honest mistake on his part, but naturally I glanced over. I saw the time on his phone. I turned back around to face the screen. I nearly shed a tear. You should have seen how sad I was when I realised there was still a whole hour left.
It didn’t get any better from that point onwards. From minute one to the last of this 118-minute drama was insufferable to sit through. It was a runtime packed with unfunny sequences, incredibly irritating characters and what felt like the same exasperating ten minutes playing over and over again.
We are stuck with whiny writer and gambling-addicted Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Johnny Flynn) and his incredibly patient wife Anna Dostoyevsky (Aimee Lou Wood). After an excursion to Switzerland, they find themselves stuck in Germany while on the way back to their home in Russia, with the only money to their name planted firmly on the green felt of a casino.
His preferred game is roulette. Ironic, really, because like the ball on a roulette table, this film goes around in constant circles and doesn’t land where you want it to. Luckily, I didn’t have any money on it.
He believes his constant pissing away of money is part of a system. This said system is what he believes will give him the inspiration for his new novel, the expected masterpiece ‘The Idiot’. It, of course, doesn’t work.
I understand the point that Fyodor is supposed to be a degenerate and a bad husband, but they commit so much to this that it makes the film painful to sit through. His antics are not funny; they are monotonous.
It’s not like he is an outlier in an impressive cast. The rest of the ensemble are equally as tedious and uninteresting. Thanks to her usual charm, the only tolerable one is Amiee Lou Wood, but even she becomes tedious with her devoted loyalty to her husband. Leave him. You can do better.
To anyone excited, don’t worry, I may be in the minority. Though I found this film a life-sucking exercise, people around me were enjoying it. They were guffawing. I’m not sure why.
It’s a tiring film which overstays its welcome. If I had to muster up a positive, it would be that I was sat at the back, which meant I could bash my head against the wall. Every cloud, ay?
- The Idiot(s) is yet to have a release date
