Avdotya Smirnova’s new film made an incredible impression on the audience
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Avdotya Smirnova’s new film Plotnik premiered at the XXX Russian Film Festival Window to Europe, which became the main national festival of this year in the absence of Kinotavr.
The picture was shown out of competition, and it was represented by 12 members of the film crew, but, alas, without Avdotya herself, who is outside the country and is going through difficult days associated with the sudden illness of her husband Anatoly Chubais. Surprisingly, many festival participants have no idea about the circumstances of her life. The screening was late, dragged on until almost one in the morning and caused a lot of personal experiences among the filmmakers. Members of the film crew recall how they asked Avdotya when starting work: “Such a tragic story. How are we going to work? And she answered: “Joyfully.” And so it happened. Plotnik is dedicated to all parents of terminally ill children.
It is difficult to predict how the fate of the director will develop in such circumstances, when she is outside her native country. But even if none of this happened, the distribution would still be in question, since this is an absolutely non-commercial story, and we don’t want to promote heavy films or watch them.
Anna Rytsareva, who played the role of the mother, said that after reading the script, she felt goosebumps all over her body, “water in her eyes.” “This is a unique role for an actress, constantly making you think about life. It was the first time I saw the film with you and I imagined it differently when I read the script.”
Some spectators left the hall, not having the strength to watch all this. And the filmmakers were under a strong, almost physiological impression, sharing stories from their lives, just as they themselves barely survived the fight against cancer. They talked about how a person changes not for the better at such moments, how anger and irritation boil up against those who are nearby and ready to help. People are out of control.
The script was written by Avdotya Smirnova together with writer Marina Stepnova. What prompted them to turn to this particular story, none of her group could explain. Avdotya takes care of problem children, helps their families, but this is a completely different kind of disease, not the one shown in the film. “The Carpenter” tells about the life of an ordinary Osipov family from Ulyanovsk, of which there are thousands. Suddenly, a small son has bumps all over his body. Doctors are powerless both in Russia and in Germany, where the unfortunate family goes for examination, having sold their only home. The boy has a rare disease. Muscles turn to stone, and the child cannot be hit, so the father wraps all metal objects with rags. His mother looks like an idiot – she is glad that her son does not have cancer. It never occurs to her that there are worse diseases, and they are incurable. There are a dozen such cases all over the world, and her child was in an exclusive group. Usually in such cases, the father leaves the family, but here he goes all the way to the end, without abandoning, without betraying his son.
The parents were played by Anna Rytsareva and Sergei Umanov, who presented in Vyborg, in addition to Plotnik, two more films – the play Waves by Mikhail Brashinsky and the documentary Bread, North, Cobalt by Sergei Debizhev about besieged Leningrad. The experimental doctor, who turned out to be the last hope of desperate people, was played by the magnificent Alexei Filimonov. He also starred with Avdotya Smirnova as Vertinsky in the series of the same name.
Avdotya invited the cameraman Denis Klebleev, a student of Marina Razbezhkina, an experienced and talented documentary filmmaker who made the films “Alice. Excitement” about Alisa Freindlich and the game “Nuucci”. Denis told MK: “Avdotya and I didn’t know each other before, but she saw several of my films. She especially liked King Lear, and she decided to bring something similar to her picture. The task was to make the style as simple as possible, because the story itself is very strong.” Ulyanovsk, where the shooting took place, impressed Denis with strong “windmills”, the flight of May beetles. And the audience is impressed by the images of Lenin. The heroine of Anna Rytsareva comes to his monument, as to a shrine. Her mother works at the Lenin Memorial, and her daughter was brought up accordingly. You can bring notes to Lenin so that cherished desires come true, to help heal the child. It’s like the Wailing Wall. And then a garbage bag will fly into it – it did not live up to expectations.
Avdotya initially formed associations with the Holy Family, who were ready to sacrifice their own child in order to save other children. About this, according to Anna Rytsareva, she spoke with the actors. For Sergei Umanov, a talented artist from St. Petersburg, who works at the Lev Ehrenburg Small Drama Theater, a cabinetmaker by his first education, Plotnik became a human test. “I have lived a lot in this world, I have lost loved ones. This film for me is like a conversation with dear people who have already passed away, with my mother, who is no longer there. When she left, I was there, accompanied her “there”. She called what happened to her a bad disease. I have known Avdotya since the time of her film “Communication” and then starred in all her films. We have a good relationship. Avdotya writes beautifully, and I agreed to act in film. She forced me to learn how to drive a car before filming started, but there is none of that in the film. I watched the movie for the first time and was worried that this piece was removed and this one. But there is as it is, the film will not be different, ”says Sergey Umanov.
It is surprising that a very simple and unsophisticated picture, not always, it would seem, convincing, which lacked poignancy, makes a very personal impression on many viewers, forcing them to recall their own experience and medical history.
Newspaper headline:
Avdotya Smirnova dedicated a new film to the parents of terminally ill children
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