Comedy by Olga Dibtseva “I am a goddess.” Review

The comedy “I Am a Goddess” is being released, the feature-length directorial debut of actress Olga Dibtseva about the difficult lot of women in the world of patriarchal stereotypes. The conclusions reached by the film’s authors left us in deep bewilderment. Yulia Shagelman.

Jokes have already spread on social networks that “I Am a Goddess” is “our answer” to the highest-grossing film in the world, “Barbie.” In terms of formal features, they are really similar: there is a lot of pink on the poster, the director and co-writer of the script is a woman, and the main character even delivers a monologue, very similar to one of the keynote speeches in Greta Gerwig’s film, about how difficult it is for a woman to always be good and fit in. expectations of society, parents, men, girlfriends, colleagues. However, in comedy, Russia, as in everything else, has its own path, so that’s where the similarities end.

Teacher Lena (Alexandra Bortich), for example, lives not in a fairy-tale pink country, but in one of the residential areas of St. Petersburg. Despite her youth, she has a dull look; the authors show why it became like this using the example of one day from Lenin’s life, coincidentally her birthday. In the morning, her husband (Anton Filipenko) wakes her up with an inappropriate and unwanted attempt to have sex, offended by the lack of enthusiasm on her part, at work she is scolded by the head teacher (Anna Ekaterininskaya), the students are insolent and do not obey, and when her colleague Zhenya (Olga Dibtseva) is overwhelmed, Instead of keeping an eye on the children on the excursion, she flirts with strangers who drove up in a black jeep; Lena is again to blame for this. In the evening, at the festive table, she is forced to endure passive-aggressive attacks from her mother-in-law, and to top it all off, a mistress is discovered in the closet on the balcony, whom her husband did not have time to send out when Lena returned home early.

Having parted with her cheater, the heroine moves in with her friend, policewoman Anya (Evgenia Kalinets), but her misfortunes do not end there – the harmful head teacher organizes her dismissal because of what happened on the excursion. Having quarreled with Zhenya over this, Lena complains to her about her life in tears, and she finally calls on her to change this life. They go to motivational training, where an arrogant coach (Ilya Sobolev) teaches women to be goddesses, insulting them in every possible way, humiliating them and calling them names. This episode, which was probably supposed to be satirical, becomes the most embarrassing in a film where there are generally enough embarrassing scenes.

The teaching of the “guru” comes down to a single thesis: in order to become a goddess, a woman must find herself a “high-ranking male” who will provide for her. Immediately setting off to put this covenant into practice, Lena meets Andrei (Sergei Ilyin), the romantic head of the IT department at the bank. He will show his true nature later, but the authors scatter warning hints in advance – a man who loves classical music, Brodsky and modern theater cannot really be positive!

A much more suitable candidate for “happily ever after” turns out to be Boris (Anton Vasiliev), Lena’s neighbor in the apartment, which she finally found the courage to rent. Even if she first meets him in a state of extreme intoxication, there is a good reason for this, and he is a worthy, strong, reliable man, and he is also a doctor, and he never talks about Antonin Dvorak.

According to the laws of a romantic comedy, the heroine must choose between two contenders (from the classics of the genre, we can recall here, for example, “Bridget Jones’s Diary”, 2001): one who, in all respects, resembles a handsome prince, but only pretends to be one, and the other – a real prince , hiding under a modest façade. And along the way, it would be good for her to realize the value of her own life, stopping in everything to adapt to the opinions of others.

Lena will make her choice, but not before she overcomes a series of unfunny gags and vulgar jokes. Or no joke – a police officer friend, for example, is remembered for her only xenophobic remark. As for female self-esteem, in the authors’ view, it is still tightly connected with men, and you can become a goddess only by finding the right one and entrusting him with the solution to all life’s problems. How does this conclusion differ from the attitudes of a cynical coach? Yes, only because the male does not have to be “high-ranking”.