Poisons or the World History of Poisoning (2001) User Reviews (8)

strong sarcastic humour and imaginative surrealism

[jozsefbiro · 7/10 · 6 January 2002]

I saw this movie on the Russian Film Week which is fortunately becoming a regular yearly event. Otherwise we do not have too many chances to see Russian movies in Hungary. Although most of my countrymen do not really mind this ("we had enough Soviet movies earlier" they claim) but I do, because the few Russian movies I have seen since the changes have all been excellent and so is this movie.

The starting scene was fantastic and it raised my expectations to a level that the rest of the movie was not able to reach. Still, in overall this is a very imaginative movie with a lot of extremely funny gags. Its humour is typically sarcastic and its surrealism is rather imaginative. (Russians - their literature and their films - have always been strong in these...) If you can tolerate slow-paced movies then you will enjoy this one, assuming that you have a chance to see it in your local cinema.

Not poison

[hte-trasme · 9/10 · 24 September 2014]

Absurdism and surrealism come to mind when discussing the tone of this witty and enjoyable film, but they're not of the type that make a film oblique or difficult to follow. Instead we have a kind of deadpan-absurd aesthetic that I found very entertaining and rewarding and that almost reminds one of an out-and-out farce played deadly seriously.

It might be hard to believe that the protagonist's wife would begin an affair with their new neighbor immediately when he comes over and invites her to the bathroom, or that the neighbor's wife had long admired him and that they fall immediately in love, but it's played with a straightforward seriousness that makes it both more interesting and more funny.

It's a less a history of poisoning than a clever story about poisoning, illustrated in inventive ways throughout the film by historical asides and imagined banquets with poisoners that manager never to be intrusive and are instead interesting and funny. On the whole, the frank-but-bizarre tone resembles the director's earlier "City Zero," but this film is far more entertaining, witty, and trippingly-paced.

Oleg Basilashvili has always been great in roles I've seen him in, and this is no exception; he makes the part of the somehow-dignified but poison-obsessed pensioner miraculously come off perfectly naturally. All this plus a very witty script make this a dryly hilarious, macabre film that's very easy to recommend.

Fantastic

[rcastilla · 10/10 · 18 December 2001]

From someone who sees alot of quality cinema -- this one is fantastic. Incredibly creative, comic, and a far more amazing cinematography/production design than 99% of big budget films. Spectacularly rich historical scenes.

There is not much about snakes in this film.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 6/10 · 13 August 2008]

Russian director Karen Shaknazarov likes to shock his audiences.He does this by transforming zany tales into absurd films about obscure topics which are not very much understood by his admirers.In one of his previous films named "Zero City",we see a post Perestroika type absurd story which defies all kinds of classification.His film "Poisons or the World History of Poisoning" is one of the most absurd Russian films which shows that ancient history can be useful if it is employed in a nice manner.It is the story of an actor named Oleg whose wife has been seduced by his neighbor.As he is thoroughly convinced of her infidelity,he would like to poison her.A pensioner named Prokhorov helps him to get rid of his wife by lecturing about famous deaths caused by poisoning.It is from Prokhorov we learn that many famous and not so famous like Cesare Borgia and Caligula were killed as they were poisoned.This is a film which has elements from drama as well as comedy films.One of the strange things about this film is that there are hardly any scenes of senseless violence in it.

A nice little movie about poisons and famous people being poisoned in the history of the world

[kliuv1 · 7/10 · 4 January 2002]

Nice little movie about poisons and famous people being poisoned in the history of the world. It is quite funny at times and entertaining. It mixes our present time and the unfortunate relationship of one couple with historical flashbacks to the famous people poisoned by their siblings and rivals. I would recommend it to people who are looking for something a bit different from their cinema experience.

Surreal comedy

[andreygrachev · 7/10 · 20 March 2009]

Another well-recognized work of the chief director in Mosfilm Karen Shahnazarov. As usual Karen gives very absurd and bright story-line that shows ordinary problems in a very special ironic way. This is not a horror film it looks more like comedy, but it touches upon horrific ideas that come to mind in state of jealousy. The main character is a young actor, whose fat wife a music teacher betrays him with a neighbour who works at meat-plant. The main character is very shy and noble person he acts really awesome. While his wife pushes him away he goes to a club and meets a stranger-pensioner who turns out to be caring a lot of poison with him all the time. He reads main character's mind immediately and tells him how he poisoned his wife-betrayer in the past. The pensioner persuades his new young friend to revenge by means of poisons and the actor agrees. The film gives brief description of poisoning in the history of human race. The youngman becomes a member of poison-club, where people from the past, who poisoned somebody gather together to have a big poison party. While the young actor plans his revenge his wife and her lover also make a plan to poison him and his new love . This becomes big absurd after all. This unusual and rather expensive film includes a lot of costumes and great dialogues. The film even has some gore. While the director describes some historical moments of Italian Cesare he shows how great emperor cured himself after being poisoned. A huge bull without entrails serve Cesare as a blood bath.

Interesting movie with very colorful historical scenes

[OlegSinitsin · 9/10 · 18 September 2006]

Some people around our hero are a problem, but he does not know how to get rid of them. Things change when he meets a mysterious poison artist, who apparently knows thousands years of dark secrets as if he was there, and he tells those stories... You will witness the famous family of Borgia and many other historical celebrities.

I would like to invite visitors to see pictures from the movie and watch a detailed trailer at RussArt.com. Those who read Russian can find more materials useful: reviews, actor biographies, articles, etc.

Pictures: http://russart.com/?moviepictures&mid=48

Trailer: http://russart.com/?movietrailer&mid=48

Whom would you like to poison?

[hmsgroop · 10/10 · 9 May 2001]

This film can be disappointing for those who like dynamic comedies. You'll not get to know anything new about the problems of todays' world. BUT this is the film about people's hidden desires. Just imagine that a new neighbour knocks on your door to establish contacts. In some time you feel like poisoning him, your adulterous wife, and your mother-in-law. When you make heart to go on with the scheme, you get invited to the poisoners' ball, where you meet Leo VI Borgia, his son Cesare, Caligula, Nero, Catherine Medici, Khan Mengli-Girey and many others. You'll hear their stories straight from the horse's mouth. The times have changed, it's much more difficult to make your hidden desires come true now, but the hidden desires and shameful secrets are the same, or aren't they?