The Overcoat

The Overcoat (1959) is a drama you can watch online on iFILM, adapted from Nikolai Gogol's famous story. It marks the directing debut of Aleksei Batalov, until then known purely as an actor. Rolan Bykov takes the title role, and his performance carries the whole picture.

Akaky Bashmachkin is a St. Petersburg clerk who copies documents for next to nothing and has all but vanished among the office desks. His one dream is a new overcoat — an object he believes will transform his miserable existence in a single stroke. He scrimps, denies himself everything, has the coat sewn by a tailor, and for once feels like a man. Then the coat is stolen. And he discovers there is no one to stand up for a small, forgotten clerk: not his colleagues, not his superiors, not the cold city around him.

Batalov skips the dusty costume-drama treatment and films a quiet tragedy of humiliation; Bykov plays Bashmachkin without begging for pity, which makes the ending land harder. The cast also includes Yuri Tolubeyev, Nina Urgant and Yelena Ponsova. A fine way in for anyone who wants Gogol on screen without the textbook reverence. Stream The Overcoat (1959) online on iFILM.