The House That Swift Built (1982) Watch Online Free in Good Quality

The House That Swift Built — советский художественный фильм, сатирическая комедия режиссера Марка Захарова поставленный по одноименной пьесе Григория Горина

Production:film studio TO "Ekran" USSR, 1982.

Filmmaker: M.Zaarov

Scriptwriter: G. Gorin

Starring: O. Yankovsky, A. Abdulov, E. Leonov, A. Zakharova, N.Karachentsov, A.Zbruev, S.Farada, V. Proskurin

Duration: 2 серии — 138 минут

The film tells the story of the last days of the life of the outstanding English writer Jonathan Swift - one of the most mysterious writers of the late 17th - early 18th centuries, the author of the famous book "Gulliver's Travels" and sharp satirical pamphlets.

Table of Contents

Narrative:

The action of the film "The House That Swift Built" takes place in 1745 in Ireland. A psychiatrist named Simpson arrives from London to Dublin, sent by the board of trustees to treat Dean Jonathan Swift, who suffered from a severe form of mental disorder.

As Dr. Simpson rode into the town square, his attention was drawn to a huge crowd gathered near St. Patrick's Cathedral. From those gathered in the square, Dr. Simpson learned that his patient, the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Jonathan Swift, had died. Simpson tried to find out when and how such a sad event had occurred, and to his surprise, one of the onlookers answered that the Dean had died "at five in the morning, as usual"...

But Simpson was even more surprised when he saw the "dead" man himself walking out of the cathedral gates. Simpson tries to explain to Swift the purpose of his visit, but Swift passes by in silence. Nevertheless, Simpson must fulfill his medical duty and the order of the guardianship council, and he goes to the dean's house.

Before getting down to business, Simpson decided to observe the situation in the house from the side, and discovered that very strange individuals were hanging around the dean's house, who identified themselves with Swift's literary characters: Lilliputians, giants, yahoos, Houyhnhnms, and others. The dean's servant Patrick explained to Simpson that his "master" was dying, thus, for the fifth time. Swift had bequeathed his entire fortune to the mentally ill, and now this crowd was besieging his house.

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One such crazy "Giant Glum" challenges the doctor to a duel, but the doctor refuses to fight. Then "Giant Glum" demonstratively plunges a dagger into his stomach. Simpson immediately rushes to help the unfortunate man, but instead of blood on the body of "Giant Glum" the doctor discovers cranberry juice.

Now Simpson understands that the dean is simply being fooled. Servant Patrick confesses that he hired the wandering actors to portray all sorts of funny little people that Swift invented. The board of guardians highly appreciated Simpson's work, but Simpson himself considers Swift to be quite healthy and not in need of guardianship. However, the board of guardians recommends that the doctor return to the dean's house, and in order to better understand him, advises Simpson to read Swift's literary works.

Reading Gulliver's Travels, Simpson begins to enter the image of this literary hero and even becomes a prophet: he predicts the date of Swift's own death. Having learned of his imminent death, this time real, Swift asks Simpson to urgently take a pen and paper, he will have to write the last and most important part of Gulliver's adventures under his dictation: "Journey to the Land of the Dead."

And then, having gathered all his friends - wandering actors, the dean informs them that at midnight he will die and will forgive them for portraying grief more comically, because this is the last performance in his life...