Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (22 January [O.S. 10 January] 1898 – 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. He is remembered as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and was a pioneer in using fast cuts and editing to tell stories, a method called montage.

Eisenstein created many famous films, including silent movies like Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928). Later, he also made big historical stories such as Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1945/1958). In a big vote every ten years by the magazine Sight and Sound, his film Battleship Potemkin was chosen as one of the best films ever made, coming in at 54th place.

Early life

Sergei Eisenstein was born on 22 January 1898 in Riga, which was part of the Russian Empire and is now in Latvia. His family moved often during his childhood. His father was an architect, and his mother took him to Saint Petersburg during a big change in Russia called the 1905 Russian Revolution. Later, his parents divorced, and his mother moved to France. Eisenstein grew up learning about the Russian Orthodox Church but later stopped believing in it. One of the first films he saw that inspired him was The Consequences of Feminism made by Alice Guy-Blaché, one of the first women to make films.

Education

Sergei Eisenstein studied architecture and engineering at the Petrograd Institute of Civil Engineering, following in his father's footsteps. However, in 1918, he left school to join the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Later, he moved to different cities like Petrograd, Vologda, and Dvinsk. In 1920, he was given a leadership role in Minsk after creating effective messages to share ideas from the October Revolution. During this time, he discovered Kabuki theatre and began studying the Japanese language, learning around 300 kanji characters, which later influenced his style in filmmaking.

Career

From theatre to cinema

Eisenstein moved to Moscow in 1920 and began working in theatre for an experimental Soviet group. He worked as a designer and began writing about film theory. His first film, Glumov's Diary, was made in 1923.

His first full-length film, Strike, came out in 1925, followed by the famous Battleship Potemkin the same year. His film October was made in 1928 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a major Russian revolution. Eisenstein's focus on camera angles and crowd movements brought him attention, but also some criticism in Soviet film circles.

Travels to western Europe

In 1928, Eisenstein traveled to Europe to learn about new technology in films and to share Soviet art with others. He visited Berlin, Zürich, London, and Paris, and in 1929 supervised an educational film in Switzerland.

American projects

In 1930, Eisenstein was invited to make a film in the United States. He proposed several ideas but could not agree with the studio. He then tried to make a film in Mexico with American support, but the project faced many problems and was never finished.

Return to the Soviet Union

After returning to the Soviet Union, Eisenstein faced difficulties and spent time teaching film. In 1938, he made Alexander Nevsky, a film that was very successful and won awards. During World War II, the film was shown again and became popular.

Comeback

Eisenstein returned to teaching and later made plans for a film about Tsar Ivan IV. The first part of Ivan the Terrible was approved and won an award, but the second part was not released until much later, and the third part was never finished.

Personal life

Sergei Eisenstein's personal life sparked many discussions. Some people believed he had feelings for men, though he denied this. In one interview, he told a journalist he wasn’t interested in girls, which surprised many. He later married a fellow filmmaker named Pera Attacheva. Despite rumors, Eisenstein said he had never felt attracted to men.

Death

Sergei Eisenstein had a heart problem and was resting after one heart attack in 1946. Sadly, he had another heart attack and passed away on February 11, 1948, when he was 50 years old. His body was shown in a special room for cinema workers, and later his ashes were placed in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Film theorist

Eisenstein was one of the earliest thinkers about how movies work. He studied with Lev Kuleshov and they both loved how editing could change what people felt and think. Eisenstein wrote books like Film Form and The Film Sense to explain how important editing is in movies.

He believed that by putting different shots together, you could make the audience feel strong emotions and even create new ideas. Eisenstein taught film-making and shared his ideas with students, using stories from books and history to help them learn. He wanted his students to be creative and express themselves, just like in his own films.

Drawings

Eisenstein liked to draw and kept sketchbooks his whole life. After he passed away, most of his drawings went to a special archive in Russia. However, his wife kept over 500 private drawings for a long time before giving them to someone else for safekeeping. These special drawings were shown in exhibitions starting in the late 1990s.

Honours and awards

Sergei Eisenstein received many awards for his work. He was given two Stalin Prizes, one in 1941 for the film Alexander Nevsky and another in 1946 for the first part of Ivan the Terrible. He was also named an Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1935 and received the Order of Lenin in 1939 for Alexander Nevsky. Additionally, he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour.

In 2023, artist William Kentridge featured a drawing of Eisenstein in his museum exhibition at The Broad in Los Angeles. On January 22, 2018, Google celebrated Eisenstein’s 120th birthday with a special Google Doodle.

Filmography

Sergei Eisenstein made many films during his career. Some of his most famous works include Strike and Battleship Potemkin, both from 1925, and October: Ten Days That Shook the World from 1928. Later, he created historical films like Alexander Nevsky in 1938 and Ivan the Terrible, Part I in 1944. The second part of Ivan the Terrible was finished later, in 1958.

Unfinished films

Eisenstein also began several films that were not completed during his lifetime. These include ¡Que viva México!, which was put together again in 1979, and Bezhin Meadow, which was reconstructed in the 1960s using plans and new music.

Other work

In 1929, Eisenstein helped supervise a film in Switzerland called "Women's Misery – Women's Happiness".