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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 757

The Overcoat

192665 minSoviet Union
Drama

Synopsis

A timid clerk is drawn into a corrupt scheme and a romantic deception that make him retreat further from other people. Years later, he saves painfully for a new overcoat, and the purchase briefly changes the way his colleagues treat him. Losing it exposes the indifference of the institutions on which he has spent his working life.

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Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: Russian.
This copy runs
63:28
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: Russian. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · «Ленинградкино» · Public domain

Cast

DirectorsGrigori KozintsevLeonid Trauberg

Inspirations

Kozintsev and Trauberg combine material from Gogol's The Overcoat and Nevsky Prospekt. Their adaptation uses grotesque situations and expressive staging to connect bureaucratic routine with humiliation and fantasy.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceWikidata — film identity and credits

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 12, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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