Maksakova, Budina and Salbiev spoke about the phenomenon of Irina Kupchenko

For half a century Kupchenko has been playing on the stage of the Vakhtangov Theatre. Behind the people’s actress dozens of roles in the theater, cinema, television. Kupchenko is a bright personality, with his dissimilarity to modern women, his closeness, his secret character, they are attractive and not solved. Her work must be conjectured, it gives rise to a play of the imagination. Kupchenko rarely appears at acting parties, and if he does, he stands out for his peculiarity. Backstage life does not interest Kupchenko and, therefore, does not destroy her image of a “strange woman” full of deep meaning, femininity and dignity.

Vakhtangovites note how desperately, boldly and recklessly Irina Kupchenko exists in The Last Moons. Her heroine is absurd and at the same time touching and defenseless, and sometimes rude and aggressive. Her Filumena from “The Pier” is temperamental, independent, smart, beautiful. And how wonderfully she reads “Tatyana’s Dream” in “Eugene Onegin”!

Lisa Kalitina from Konchalovsky’s Nest of Nobles is colored by the character traits of Irina Kupchenko – hidden passion, temperament, and captivating low voice. This is the case when the actress herself formulates the essence of the role. Its tragedy is hidden, it is not expressed externally, but excites the viewer with its integrity and inner strength. Sonya in “Uncle Vanya” and Ekaterina Trubetskaya in “Star of Captivating Happiness” enriched Russian filmography with new character traits – from pastels to graphics. It combines tenderness and strength, irony and tragedy. Her talent is multicolored, multifaceted and contagious.

Olga Budina, theater and film actress, TV presenter:

– I am grateful to fate for meeting Irina Petrovna Kupchenko. We meet with her in the next season of Zemsky Doctor. And it is with this film that I again enter the profession – after all, I left it eight years ago. And the most important thing for me was the meeting with Irina Petrovna Kupchenko. This is a real star with a capital letter.

If we analyze the creative path of Irina Petrovna, we will see that she, of course, is subject to completely different roles. We remember her as the wife of a Decembrist, we remember her as a strange woman. She can be weak, she can be strong, she can play in any, probably in all genres, and she is always beautiful. Irina Petrovna is a true actress, kissed by God. And it is also important to note that Irina Petrovna is not only a real excellent actress, she is also a magnificent person. It is very comfortable and very warm to communicate with her. I treat her with great affection. I learn from her, I admire her, I love her, I wish her long life and I really hope that our joint work will continue – in this project or in some other, I consider this a great creative success. Happy birthday, my beloved, beautiful Irina Petrovna!

Akim Salbiev, film director, screenwriter:

– Irina Petrovna Kupchenko is such a special person as Chernyshevsky’s character Rakhmetov. I’ll explain why. First, she was born on February 29, a leap year. If you compare her with Hollywood stars, she is in the gallery with Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange – this is an actress of this level. And this was already clear and visible when she performed her first two big roles with Andron Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky in The Noble Nest and Uncle Vanya. For me, it’s a special impression that it’s like once, many years ago, the role of Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac was written for her. The film “Without Witnesses”, in fact, a duet film with Mikhail Aleksandrovich Ulyanov – this is Kupchenko herself, that’s exactly what she is.

Many years ago, I heard from her that she is happy that she is not recognized on the streets – without makeup or with makeup, really, like a person from the crowd. And she can easily move around and live the way she wants.

I remember the rare appearance of an actress. At the 19th International Film Festival of Military Patriotic Cinema on the Walk of Fame in Tula, we opened the star of Vasily Semenovich Lanovoy. Irina Petrovna has arrived. During the life of her star husband, she did not often complain to him for duet exits. Of course, the departure of his son 10 years ago shocked both Vasily Semenovich and Irina Petrovna. But, as you can see, she is in the ranks, she knows why she lives, she knows her way. The expression Self-made man – made himself, it’s about her.

On stage, I would note one of the extreme roles of Irina Petrovna in the legendary epic “War and Peace”, and before that – in the anthologies of large stages of the best performances of the Vakhtangov Theater in one performance “Piers”, where she plays Filumena Marturano, a passionate woman with a past. This is all that never concerned Irina Petrovna. Quiet, mysterious, existing as a separate comet.

My favorite film by Vadim Abdrashitov is The Turn, where Irina Petrovna, in a brilliant duet with Oleg Yankovsky, tells a terrible story in which they recognize themselves. Much later, the same movie – Eyes Wide Shut – was directed by Kubrick.

Lyudmila Maksakova, artist of the State Academic Theater named after E.B. Vakhtangov:

– Now in our theater she plays the Countess mother of Natasha Rostova in the play “War and Peace”.

– In recent years, Kupchenko has not given interviews to the press. Why?

– And he does the right thing, that he does not give. Irina Petrovna is a special woman. In Turandot we had such a remark: “Eyes, like those of the very love of the goddess.” In this case, we are not talking about a fairy tale, but about life – and lived, apparently, not quite fabulously fun and beautiful. And yet, these eyes, they go to the heart. It is impossible to forget the look in her eyes when she looks at you from the screen. She knows how to convey the slightest nuances of the soul with one glance. This is the great magic of her work.

I don’t know, for some reason now everything flickers, the frames run fast and you don’t even have time to remember the face and expression of a person, but Irina Petrovna, of course, has eyes that penetrate the soul. My heart always shrinks when Irina Petrovna looks at me from the screen. As far as I understand it, this characterizes a person of unbending will. As for nature, apparently, this is a man of extraordinary willpower. Therefore, I only bow low and applaud her courage. For me, her image is equivalent to the image of the Madonna, “the purest beauty, the purest example,” in the words of Pushkin.