“Container”: series about surrogate motherhood quickly became outdated, but has not lost its scandalousness
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Maternal capital
“Container” was filmed at a time when surrogate motherhood was a topic for acute public controversy. The project came to streaming against the backdrop of almost detective stories about children who were born in Russia for foreigners, but due to covid restrictions, customers could not take these babies abroad. On the air, the series has already found itself in a situation where the upcoming changes in the law on surrogate motherhood will radically limit such services. In general, the hot topic quickly cooled down.
The situation is developing in such a way that surrogate motherhood is gradually recognized as another alien norm for us, but this does not take away the reputation of filmmakers from the creators of the Container, who were among the first to turn to this topic. Fans of Friends will certainly remember how Phoebe carried triplets for an outside family almost twenty years ago, but this storyline in no way turns the American TV hit into a bespoke pregnancy project.
The authors of the film “Together, together” got much closer to the topic. The heroes of the film, which did well at independent festivals in 2021, are a single man who wants to become a father (according to the new Russian rules, this is stopped in the bud, so our unmarried stars fussed in time), and a girl who agrees to act as a surrogate mother. But all this is in the format of a cute comedy, while “Container” at first seems like a serious social drama. However, only at first.
Talking heads, declaring the immorality of the very idea of pregnancy for hire, immediately create an aggressive hostile background around the main character Sasha (Oksana Akinshina). Sasha is one of those girls to whom we really often have a dismissive attitude. She wants to give birth to a child for rich customers and go to Spain from all her problems. Customers – a government official (Philip Yankovsky) and his young wife (Marusya Fomina) – look like ideal characters for a film about the conflict between the rich and the poor.
The conflict itself is drawn brightly and without unnecessary halftones: angry daddies and spoiled fools live on Rublyovka, people exhausted by anger and lack of money huddle in panel high-rise buildings. The family of the main character is also conflicting to the point of obscenity. If the older sister wants to earn money by becoming a container for the baby, then the younger one (Maria Lobanova) is thinking about selling her virginity. Mom (Julia Aug) does not accept any immorality and rather caricaturely defends moral principles that are hopelessly outdated in the eyes of children. Sasha rents an apartment and from time to time meets with a neighbor on the landing (Dmitry Chebotarev). The neighbor obviously wants not only sex, but also friendship, but Spain is much more important for Sasha.
All this is more than enough for a series about terrible modern morals, but even before the audience decides that they understand the further course of the plot, the social drama unexpectedly turns into a thriller. Sasha’s school boyfriend named Igor (Artem Bystrov), a man with a criminal record, arrives from another city, intending in the harshest way to remind his ex-girlfriend of what she would like to forget.
And if the social drama performed by director Maxim Sveshnikov does not shine with novelty and interesting twists, then the thriller turns out to be very dynamic. Sasha moves from the sleeping area to Rublyovka, but behind the fences and security is not very safe. The characters are absolutely impossible to separate into bad and good, muted tones and fast-paced events create a rather effective aura, which is an additional plus to the plot and acting. The latter is noteworthy.
Oksana Akinshina is not the first time playing a woman with a stone face, issuing icy remarks. But it is in the role of Sasha that her enviable acting form manifests itself, perhaps, in the most striking way. Artem Bystrov has become a truly exemplary villain, from whom danger emanates in every frame, because it is not clear what to expect from him. Perhaps the other participants in the action could only be in the wings, but passing roles are not yet visible.
All this was filmed, of course, as if in another life and in another world, where much was not easy in its own way, but still subject to some more or less intelligible rules. Thanks to them, girls from Mytishchi could save money in euros and dream about Spain, which has now become much further.
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Maternal capital
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