Part I

In the prologue Ivan's mother and her lover are murdered by the boyars. Later Ivan is enthroned as the grand prince of Moscow.^[2]

Part I begins with Ivan's coronation as the tsar of all Russia, amid grumbling from the boyars and silent jealousy from his cousin, Vladimir of Staritsa and especially from Vladimir's mother and Ivan's aunt, the evil-looking Yefrosinya Staritskaya. Ivan makes a speech proclaiming his intent to unite and protect Russia against the foreign armies outside her borders and the enemies within – a reference to the boyars, who are already seen as discontented with his coronation. Shortly after, Ivan marries Anastasia Romanovna and there is a wedding celebration. This causes him to lose the friendship of his two best friends, Prince Andrei Kurbsky and Fyodor Kolychev. The latter receives Ivan's permission to retire to a monastery, while Kurbsky attempts to resume his romance with the tsarina, who repels his advances.

The marriage feast is interrupted by news of the burning of several boyar palaces, carried into the tsar's palace by a mob of the common people who also complain that the tsar is being led astray by the tsarina's family (the Romanovs), the Glinskys and the Zakharins. Ivan calms the crowd, but is interrupted by envoys from the khanate of Kazan, who send him a ceremonial knife with the suggestion that he do himself a favor by using it to commit suicide. Ivan immediately proclaims that his kingdom is at war with Kazan.

The next scene shows the 1552 siege of Kazan, in which Ivan's army digs saps underneath the city and fills them with gunpowder. Kurbsky, nominally in command, is reprimanded by Ivan for senseless brutality (he ties Tatar prisoners to palisades within earshot of the walls of Kazan and tells them to shout to the city to surrender; the defending archers immediately shoot the prisoners). The city of Kazan falls to the Russian army.

During his return from Kazan, Ivan falls seriously ill and is thought to be on his deathbed; Orthodox priests come to give him the last rites before he dies. Ivan sends for his relatives and orders them to swear allegiance to his son, the infant Dmitri, reminding them of the need for a single ruler to keep Russia united. They demur, with Ivan's aunt, Yefrosinya Staritskaya, openly urging the others to swear allegiance to her son, Vladimir, instead. Emotionally overwrought, Ivan collapses and is thought dead. The relatives, celebrating, all begin to swear allegiance to Vladimir, the "boyar tsar" they have hoped for; meanwhile, Kurbsky is uncertain of his own loyalty, trying to decide between the two sides. However, when the tsarina says, "Do not bury a man before he is dead", Kurbsky realizes that Ivan is still alive, and hurriedly swears his allegiance to Ivan's infant son, Dmitri. He is sent, as a reward, to the western border of the kingdom to defend against the Livonians and Poles. At the same time, Ivan dispatches Alexei Basmanov, a commoner he likes, to the south to take care of the Crimean border. The fact that Ivan promotes a commoner over them creates more discontent amongst the boyars.

The tsarina now falls ill, and while Ivan is receiving bad news from all fronts, the boyars plot to kill her. Yefrosinya comes into the palace with a cup of wine hidden in her robes, in which she has put poison. Just as the royal couple receive word that Kurbsky has defected to the Livonians, Yefrosinya slips the cup of wine into the room and listens from behind a wall. The news that Kurbsky is a traitor gives the tsarina a convulsion and Ivan, looking around for a drink to calm her, takes the poisoned wine and gives it to her.

The scene changes to show the dead tsarina lying in state in the cathedral, with Ivan mourning beside her bier. While a monk reads biblical verses over the body, Ivan questions his own justifications and ability to rule, wondering if his wife's death is God's punishment on him. However, he pulls himself out of it, and sends for his old friend, Kolychev, the monk. At this point, Alexei Basmanov arrives, suggesting that Ivan instead surround himself with men he can really trust – common people, "iron men", the oprichniki – and offers his own rather startled son, Fyodor, for service. Ivan accepts, and sets about recouping his losses. He abdicates and leaves Moscow, waiting until the people beg him to return, saying that he now rules with absolute power by the will of the people.

Part II

Part II opens in the court of King Sigismund of Poland, to whom Kurbsky swears allegiance. Sigismund promises to make Kurbsky ruler of Ivan's territories, once he exploits the tsar's absence by conquering them. The plan is foiled when an emissary announces that Ivan has returned to Moscow.

A flashback shows Ivan as a child, witnessing his mother being poisoned and removed, then as a young teenager standing up to the condescension of the boyars who want to rule over young Ivan's head. He begins by reforming the land distribution - he takes the boyars' lands, then reinstalls them as managers, increasing his own power at their expense. His friend, Kolychev, arrives, now the monk Philip; after a heated debate, Philip agrees to become metropolitan of Moscow, as long as Ivan gives him the right to intercede for condemned men. This is mutually agreed upon, but as soon as it is settled, Ivan, propelled by his lieutenant Malyuta Skuratov, finds a way around this: he executes condemned men quickly, before Philip can use his right. In this way he has three of Philip's kinsmen executed.

Fyodor Basmanov, the first of the oprichniki, helps Ivan figure out that the tsarina was poisoned, and both suspect Yefrosinya of poisoning the cup of water. Ivan orders Fyodor not to say anything about it until they are certain beyond doubt of her guilt.

The boyars, close to desperation, plead their case to Philip and eventually win him over. He vows to block Ivan's abuse of power, and confronts him in the cathedral while a miracle play is being presented. As the argument heats up, a small child, carried on the boyars’ shoulders next to Yefrosinya, calls out, asking whether this is the "terrible heathen king". Ivan, angry, proclaims that he will be exactly what they call him – terrible. He is now sure that Yefrosinya poisoned his wife, the tsarina, and he has Philip seized. The boyars now decide that their only option is to assassinate Ivan, and the novice Pyotr is selected to wield the knife. Malyuta Skuratov arrives to invite Vladimir to a banquet with Tsar Ivan and the oprichniki.

(From here, the film is in colour.) At the banquet, Ivan gets Vladimir drunk while the oprichniki sing and dance around them; a tipsy Vladimir mentions that there is a plot to kill Ivan, and that he, Vladimir, is to replace him as tsar. Fyodor Basmanov notices Pyotr, the assassin, leaving and signals to Ivan who, pretending surprise at Vladimir's revelation, suggests Vladimir try being tsar for a while. He has the oprichniki bring throne, orb, sceptre, crown and royal robes, and they all bow down to "Tsar Vladimir". Then Ivan tells Vladimir to lead them to the cathedral in prayer, as a tsar should lead. (Back to black-and-white.) Hesitantly, Vladimir does.

In the cathedral, the assassin runs up, stabs the mock tsar and is immediately seized by Fyodor and Malyuta. Yefrosinya arrives, jubilant at the apparent death of Ivan, until she sees Ivan alive; rolling the corpse over, she realizes it is her own son. Ivan orders Fyodor and Malyuta to release Pyotr, the assassin, and thanks him for killing not only "a fool", but "the tsar's worst enemy". He sentences Yefrosinya, who is holding the crown her son was wearing and is singing over his dead body as if deranged. (Back to colour.) At the end, Ivan is seen proclaiming that all his enemies within Moscow are ruthlessly vanquished and he can now turn his attention to those outside.

Part III

A third film, which began production in 1946, was halted when the decision was made not to release the second film. After Eisenstein's death in 1948, all footage from the film was confiscated, and it was rumored to have been destroyed (though some stills and a few brief shots still exist today).^[14]

The screenplay was completed and published copies can be purchased online. The plot was to include Ivan's growing paranoia of his followers (including his betrayal of Fyodor Basmanov) and a battle against Livonian troops which Ivan wins, and thus gains access to the sea for his people.

Symbolism

Certain symbols are constantly repeated within the film. Notable examples include the single eye which refers to truth. Other symbols include icons, which are symbolic of the Russian Orthodox Church, and then contemporary views of the Church and theology. At the end of Part II during the dance scene, Fyodor wears a mask and cross-dresses as a woman, representing gender confusion and growing debauchery.

Shadows are also used, to visually explain a character's power and control over other characters. This is especially evident in the throne room scene in Part I, when Ivan's shadow dominates the globe, with all those around him referring to his political power.^[16]

Colours are used with precision to add to the overall atmosphere. Almost all of the film is in black-and-white, but at the very end of Part II, just for 10 minutes colour film is used to emphasize the transition from good to bad as well as those scenes' general importance. At the end of the colour part Ivan decides to put his cousin under the assassin's knife by robing him in tsar's dress. The use of black-and-white is here also a visual cue to aid in the dualistic breakdown of characters and their personalities. Certain characters wear colours to refer to their personalities, such Evfrosinia wearing black to visually allude to her evil nature. Beyond that, swans are displayed at two feasts within the film - the first are white, representing innocence and goodness; the second are black, representing the wickedness that has come to pass.

Most of the major characters are portrayed as animals through facial and body gestures, as well as their speech:

• Ivan is portrayed as a bird, with his robes acting as his wings, the constant thrusting and tilting of his head, and the feathery nature of his hair and beard. The bird symbolism will shift from prey to predatory throughout the film.
• Evfrosinia is portrayed like a snake, to reinforce her evil nature. Camera shots always have her coming from the floor up, much like a snake coils up to attack. Her clothing is black, a traditionally evil colour, and she wears a head covering giving her the appearance of a snake's bald head.
• Malyuta is portrayed as a dog to emphasize his loyalty. His hair is designed to mimic a dog's long, floppy ears. His general mannerisms are also dog-like.