two separate confusions about this movie

1) This story, as mentioned in the Comment posted by Prof Lostiswitz, is taken from the 1865 Russian novel Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov, and despite all the 'Macbeth' films listed here under 'Movie Connections', has nothing at all to do with Shakespeare's story of Macbeth other than some similarities in the depravity of the wife's character. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Macbeth_of_the_Mtsensk_District_(nov el).

As Prof Lostiswitz notes, Dmitri Shostakovich also wrote an opera, in Russian, based on this same novel. Czech director Petr Weigl later made a film based on the opera, using Czech actors lip-synching to a famous recording featuring Galina Vishnevskaya and Nicolai Gedda, with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104668/.


2) While the great bulk of Polish director Andrzej Wajda's movies were filmed in Poland with Polish actors speaking the Polish language, his 1961 Siberska Ledi Magbet was made in Yugoslavia, with Yugoslav actors speaking Serbo-Croatian.