Ivan Karamazov and The Devil

"An episode of Dostoevsky's Karamazov Brothers. Brilliant performance of Kirill Lavrov, great Russian actor (acts as both Ivan Karamazov and the devil). Kirill Lavrov passed away on April, 27, 2007. Directed by Ivan Pyryev, a prominent film maker, who died during the shooting process.
(p) Mosfilm 1968." If this video clip should act up, and it will from time to time as the source is in Russia, go to this link to view the clip.

Ivan's visit from the Devil is a slice out of time. His wet towel is dry, the glass sitting prettily intact on the table, yet his candles have burned down, indicating the passage of time. Alyosha banging at the window snaps him out of his hallucination, and yet Alyosha seems to know what has happened. Alyosha, like the devil, seems to have the gift of bending time. In the earlier, more innocent, days of the novel, when he was still an acolyte, his days seemed preternaturally long, as he ran from task to task. Here he arrives "at midnight," on the dividing line between Mitya's last day before the trial, and the day of the trial. Ivan has been making tiny, tiny choices all day. First, he returns home, and with his hand on his doorbell, turns and to goes to Smerdyakov, and there hears Smerdyakov's admission of guilt (620). He decides to save the drunken peasant he has knocked down, telling himself he has used an hour in "saving" the peasant from freezing to death only because he was feeling pleased with his decision to tell the court everything on the morrow (634). He stops again at the gate to his house, and asks himself, "why shouldn't I go to the prosecutor right now at once and tell him everything?" This mirrors the Dmitri's daily question, "why don't I go to Katya right now and return the money?" It is these steps not taken that lead to disaster. Alyosha does not think before acting, he always chooses the right, immediate action, whereas Ivan and Dmitri hesitate and hesitate. This seems to give Alyosha "all the time in the world" while Dmitri and Ivan, to say the very least, have "terrible timing."