Defenseless and open Inna Churikova: a holy soul and a nuclear boiler

She was a non-star star of Lenkom, she had many international awards for film roles, which many never dreamed of. At the same time, modestly, with dignity, she carried the crown of popular love and an outstanding actress. She appreciated beautiful things, dressed elegantly, but she was not a diva. And even more so, there was no star disease, arrogance and satiety in her. Inna Mikhailovna was a cordial and sympathetic person, very vulnerable.

With her husband, film director Gleb Panfilov, they traveled around the country a lot, presenting films. I remember how in Nizhny Novgorod, where the film “Mother” was filmed, Panfilov helped his wife overcome shyness, tried to say something for her, and from such care she opened up and began to speak divinely with the audience. But she couldn’t defend herself.

It is still not clear how this could happen that Churikova left the Taganka Theater in tears. She was practically thrown out of there by a harmful elderly usher, and Churikova never watched The Cherry Orchard staged by the Maly Drama Theater from St. Petersburg, where Evgeny Lebedev played Firs. Did the usher recognize Churikova—how could she not have been recognized? – or out of spite she said rude things while Inna Mikhailovna was looking for a place in the hall … Churikova could not stand the furious aggression. In this state, he found Panfilov’s wife. It was striking that he did not go into details – he simply took his wife out of the hall, and they left the theater.

Churikova could be gentle on stage, as in the role of Nele in “Til”, she played such different heroines as Sarah and Arkadina in Chekhov’s “Ivanov” and “The Seagull”. She was versatile and unpredictable. Lyudmila Petrushevskaya wrote “Three Girls in Blue” especially for her, and the performance was banned. The experienced Rolan Bykov advised me to go to the city committee, and Mark Zakharov shrewdly sent Churikova there. The issue has been resolved. It turned out that the party comrade collected postcards with the image of Inna Churikova – he loved her very much.

Ten years ago, Inna Churikova and Gleb Panfilov, whose muse she was all their life together, were awarded the Nika Prize for Honor and Dignity. Then Inna Mikhailovna admitted in our interview: “With age comes an understanding of the transience of life. But once it seemed that there was so much time ahead, and his rhythm was unhurried, and everything could be done in time. And then it turned out that everything in this life is fleeting, and you suddenly notice that the time has come to take stock … I was very young when we met Gleb. Together we were never bored. We are passionate people. Found your profession. I can’t imagine how I would live if it wasn’t for her. Man must express himself and derive joy from it. Otherwise life is boring. Gleb and I are interested together. He has such an enveloping, magnetic world. Home, husband, son are very important to me. If people love each other, they will always find ways to each other. Every moment should bring joy to a person. I’m trying not to get discouraged.”

Gleb Anatolyevich is 88 years old, and he was left alone. Inna Churikova played her best roles in his paintings. If not for him, it is not known how her fate would have been. To some, Churikova seemed not beautiful enough for an actress. She was directly told about this during the entrance exams at the acting department. But watch Panfilov’s films, where she is very young. How good is she!

Panfilov in her, who played squirrels and bunnies in the Youth Theater together with her friend Leah Akhedzhakova, felt a gift. He would later call it the nuclear boiler. He had a premonition of Churikov, and it’s hard to explain: he painted her even before they met, working on his debut painting “There is no ford in the fire” in the late 60s. Panfilov was looking for the image of the main character – the artist Tanya Tetkina, who died in the fire of the civil war in 1918 – and an actress who could play her. The script was originally titled “Holy Soul”.

He saw Inna in some TV show, he did not know her last name. And later, Rolan Bykov told him about a certain actress Lidia Churikova, who was actually Inna. And they met. Panfilov was 32 years old. To the young Churikova, he seemed very mature.

Another amazing story happened later. “There is no ford in the fire” was shown at the festival in Locarno, Switzerland, where the picture received the “Golden Leopard”. There were no awards for the best actress at that time, but the jury was struck by the 25-year-old actress who played Tanya Tetkina, and it was decided to buy her a gift at her own expense. Churikova was presented with a cameo pendant, which she kept all her life.

In August 2021, Panfilov and Churikova returned to Locarno again, where the world premiere of the film based on Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” took place. The situation was difficult due to the pandemic, but the brave couple was not afraid, although in Moscow it was extremely rarely published. And if they appeared at performances and other events, they strictly observed the epidemiological requirements, put on huge glasses that covered half of the face, masks, so it was difficult to recognize them.

The trip to Locarno turned out to be their last festival trip to a festival of this class. They were accompanied by their son Ivan Panfilov, who received his directing education in the UK, lives there and became the producer of Ivan Denisovich. Churikova has a small role there – either a Russian woman-sufferer, or the Motherland. In Locarno, Inna Mikhailovna wore an incredible hat with huge roles. She loved these and had them in her wardrobe. It hit everyone there.

Each common picture of Panfilov and Churikova is a part of life and a milestone. In 1970, on the set of The Beginning, which became a reflection of the failed Jeanne, they got married. The film won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. And the audience is still quoting the dialogues of Churikova and Kuravlev: “Game can be done with your hands”, “Do you want coffee? It invigorates”, “Let’s have dinner!” – “Just like that?” – “Why pull? You are from work and I am from work.

For many years Panfilov dreamed of making a film about Joan of Arc, he was terribly worried because he was not given such an opportunity. In 1973, Churikova wrote a desperate letter to Philip Yermash, chairman of the USSR Goskino, about how she refused other roles for the sake of Joan of Arc, from the opportunity to have children, that she was getting old and would soon not be able to play her. She wrote about the thoughts that come to mind – about the uselessness of life, the readiness to leave it. Didn’t receive an answer. A resolution was imposed on her cry of the soul: “Don’t answer Churikova.”

Panfilov dreamed of Hamlet. He worked on it for eight years, but did not receive permission to stage it. The same Yermash explained to him that at the top the film was considered untimely. Only after that Panfilov staged Hamlet at Lenkom, and Gertrude Churikova became a point of attraction there. She is not Yankovsky’s Hamlet. Prior to that, in 1976, Churikova played Ophelia in Andrei Tarkovsky’s production with Hamlet – Anatoly Solonitsyn. But soon she became a mother. There was no other Ophelia in the theater then.

Then there was the picture “I Ask for Words”, noted in Karlovy Vary, the heroine of which can be studied with special interest today and find answers to damned questions. Their “Theme”, which landed on the “shelf” for several years, received the “Golden Bear” at the Berlinale years later. There were “Valentina” based on the play by Alexander Vampilov “Last Summer in Chulimsk”, Gorky’s adaptations of “Vassa” and “Mother”, “The Romanovs. The Crowned Family” is the fruit of almost ten years of work, in which Churikova’s voice-over sounds. In the film adaptation of Ostrovsky’s Guilty Without Guilt, she played Kruchinina, and her son Ivan played Neznamov. It was important for Panfilov that these roles were played by blood relatives.

Panfilov rarely filmed. Pauses between films dragged on for 7-10 years. Inna Churikova starred in Konchalovsky’s “Ryaba the Hen”, “Field Romance” by Pyotr Todorovsky. She was a bold actress, and over the years it became more and more obvious. In the sinister New Year’s comedy “Country OZ” by Vasily Sigarev, many refused to act. Refuseniks, and among them were Khabensky and Bondarchuk, the director thanked in the credits. But Churikova agreed, even ventured to utter a few obscene words that were preserved only in the festival version, and they were removed from the rental version. After the premiere, Vasily Sigarev said: “Inna Mikhailovna has not yet worked in such material. She looked at me before uttering a phrase about the Liberal Democratic Party and asked: “Well, what, Vasya? Shall we?” I answered: “We will!” And she took it and did it.

Another interesting experience for Churikova is the karaoke comedy “The Best Day” by Zhora Kryzhovnikov based on the play “An old friend is better than two new ones” by Ostrovsky, which we still have to guess. Everything happens in our days, all the heroes sing. Mikhail Boyarsky, who has a brilliant role there, agreed to act only after Churikova called. There they play the parents of a traffic police officer performed by Dmitry Nagiyev. Zhora Kryzhovnikov (and he is a student of Mark Zakharov) negotiated with Churikova in the dressing room at Lenkom. “I drank tea with the Korovka there, told everything for two hours, or rather, Inna Mikhailovna asked me questions: why is this, why is that, what is the story about … Nothing is accidental for her. Inna Mikhailovna is tenacious to details, replicas, commas. She asked questions not only on her own remarks, but also on the remarks of her partners: “What is he telling me? I don’t understand. Then you need to add this word, ”he recalls. The conversations continued at Churikova’s house, dragged on so much that Gleb Panfilov had to interrupt the discussion and send the director home.

Inna Churikova had a wonderful voice, instantly recognizable. In recent years, she has found an unusual use for him: she voiced Mandelstam’s wife Nadezhda in Roma Liberov’s film “Keep My Speech Forever”, where the main character became a puppet with the voice of Viktor Sukhorukov; in the Living Memories media project, Churikova spoke on behalf of Leo Tolstoy’s daughter Alexandra.

Everything about her was unique: her voice, special beauty, mindset and temperament. Until the last days, she strove to do something extraordinary and in this sense was open to all winds.

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