Dutch director Jos Stelling filmed Altai in East Germany
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“Natasha’s Dance” is the 15th and last film of the 78-year-old Dutch classic Jos Stelling, who directed the films “Switchman”, “The Flying Dutchman”, “The Illusionist”, “No Trains, No Planes…”, “Dushka” with Sergei Makovetsky, “The Girl and Death” with Renata Litvinova, Svetlana Svetlichnaya, Leonid Bichevin. The image of the main character arose thanks to Natasha Rostova.
Stelling presented his debut film Mariken of Nijmegen in 1975 at the Cannes Film Festival. Half a century later, he announced his retirement from Natasha’s Dance. In an interview, the Dutch classic said that he had lived a fantastic life, but the time had come to give way to the young and start writing a book himself. He called the last film very personal in its attitude, although there are no biographical coincidences. And the main character Daantje is the child who lives in his own soul.
The premiere took place in the director’s hometown of Utrecht, where he still lives. In the fall, Stelling presented his film in the main competition of the Dark Nights film festival in Tallinn. The jury noted the cinematography of Gurt Hiltai, who shot many films with Stelling.
In the Netherlands, “Natasha’s Dance” is shown in only five cinemas – in Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague. In the cozy Hague cinema with multi-colored velvet sofas and armchairs, there were 11 spectators at the only evening showing. In 2016, at the archival film festival in White Pillars, I had the opportunity to meet the director’s son, Jef Stelling, who was then in charge of two arthouse cinemas in Utrecht. He said that viewers come to them not just to watch a movie, but also to chat, listen to lectures, have dinner, and drink a glass of wine. The atmosphere in the Hague cinema is the same.
Stelling took eight years to prepare for “Natasha’s Dance.” Filming coincided with a pandemic, so Altai was filmed in East Germany, in Weimar, associated with Goethe, Schiller, Bach. For a sensitive director this is essential. The train scenes were filmed in a vintage carriage at the Leipzig Railway Museum. It doesn’t look like a Russian train at all. Europeans don’t notice the substitution, although the landscapes look funny and don’t resemble Altai at all. When asked why the film was in black and white, Stelling replied that he wanted to end his career by making as simple a movie as possible, and color was distracting.
In 2002, the book “Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia” by British historian Orlando Figes was published, which explores the cultural environment and life of the country, starting with the founding of St. Petersburg, when Peter I cut a window to Europe, and up to Soviet times. This work begins with a description of a peasant dance performed by Natasha Rostova in the novel “War and Peace.” Stelling is familiar with this research. And the name of the heroine in his film appeared thanks to Tolstoy’s heroine. Stelling was impressed by the story of the Decembrist Fonvizin and his wife Natalya, who followed him into Siberian exile. He later saw her image in the Pushkin Museum. Still didn’t know what this woman looked like, he chose actress Anastasia Weinmar, who turned out to be similar to her. At the same time, Stelling says that she reminds him of the Italian actress Anna Magnani.
Anastasia Vainmar is a graduate of the Leningrad Theater Institute (LGITMiKa), a student of the legendary teacher Veniamin Filshtinsky. She was born in Leningrad, but lived most of her adult life in Berlin.
The film consists of two very different parts. The first contains a detailed and Bergman-like beautiful description of everyday life related to the childhood of the protagonist. The second part is something chaotic, where Natasha appears for the first time. This is the story of a strange relationship between a young Dutchman who lost his mother early (played by the Dutch actor Willem Vogd) and a Russian woman who was left by her wealthy husband for a new passion. It is curious that in “The Girl and Death” Stelling told the love story of a Russian youth and a Dutch girl. In general, two loneliness met again. Together they go to Rubtsovsk, where Natasha’s grandmother lived. Now all that remains is her cobwebbed house.
In the forest, the heroes will meet the strangest character – Igor – a fidgety village peasant with a bag over his shoulders, reminiscent of a goblin. He was played by Belgian actor and composer Jan Bijvoit. He speaks broken Russian, just like the conductors on the train. Natasha’s traveling companion is a European-looking gentleman who reads Pushkin’s poems, which won’t stop him from grabbing her bag with documents. In “The Girl and Death” the heroine Svetlichnaya gives a volume of Pushkin at the request of one girl to her aged lover.
Natasha reads Konstantin Simonov’s poems “Wait for me, and I will return…”, listens to the song “Cranes” performed by Mark Bernes, and sings herself: “Sometimes it seems to me that the soldiers who have not returned from the bloody fields…” Daniil, how She calls Daantje and repeats Russian words after her. He has signs of autism. Since childhood, the presence of a boy has led to disasters. His mother died in a car accident along with her boyfriend who was driving. He turned to the child and tragedy struck. Two bodies – the mother and her lover – lie on the table under a white sheet. Only the feet and heads are visible. So the child became an orphan. He did not take off his knitted hat and silently endured the ridicule and beatings of his classmates. Mom told him about a young ballerina living somewhere far away. Daantje grew up and met Natasha. She also studied ballet as a child.
Daantje follows her like a shadow and introduces himself as her son. He is somewhat reminiscent of Dushka played by Sergei Makovetsky, whose prototype was the Russian film critic Yuri Konenko. Stelling met him in St. Petersburg. They walked into some tunnels in thirty-degree frost. Stelling wanted to film him. There is also a lot of inexplicability in “Natasha’s Dance”, which is what attracts Stelling to Russia, and this strangeness is now forever recorded in his latest film.
Newspaper headline:
Natasha on the outskirts of a foreign country
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