Dear friends,

To mark the 135th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian writer and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov, the Russian House Cinema Club in Brussels presents the feature film

“Morphine”

Director: Alexei Balabanov

Starring: Leonid Bichevin

2008 * 107 min.

English subtitles

18+

An adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s early stories. It is 1917 — a time of turmoil, revolution, hopes and losses. Twenty-three-year-old doctor Polyakov arrives at a hospital in the provincial town of N. One day, while fighting to save a patient’s life, Polyakov puts his own life at risk. An injection of morphine — a powerful painkiller that is highly addictive — saves the patient. But Polyakov refuses to believe that such a destructive addiction could affect a rational person, let alone a doctor.

Mikhail Bulgakov (1891–1940) was an outstanding Russian writer and playwright of the 20th century whose work occupies a special place in Russian literature. Born in Kyiv in 1891, he received a medical education before devoting himself entirely to literature. His books have been adapted for the screen many times and translated into numerous languages, while theatrical productions based on his plays continue to be staged around the world. Bulgakov’s work continues to attract readers with its distinctive atmosphere, subtle humour and satire, and, above all, its timeless questions about good and evil, love and betrayal, and human freedom and responsibility.