Russian Natasha’s dance was seen in Europe: Jos Stelling’s latest film

Due to the pandemic, the Dutch classic filmed Russia in Germany

The International Film Festival “Dark Nights” ended in Tallinn, where there were no Russian films, but it still could not do without Russian participation. Alexander Filippenko in the role of Secretary General Chernenko and Inna Churikova in the image of the wife of a party leader were seen in the Georgian-produced film “Patient No. 1” by Rezo Gigineishvili. The classic from the Netherlands Jos Stelling finally completed his long-standing plan and presented “Natasha’s Dance” with a Russian actress in the title role.

78-year-old Stelling, whom we know well from the films “Switchman”, “Dushka” with Sergei Makovetsky in the title role, “Death and the Maiden” with Leonid Bichevin, Svetlana Svetlichnaya and Renata Litvinova, worked on his project for ten years and now speaks that this is his last film. When filming became possible, the world was covered by a pandemic. So we had to look for Russian open spaces in Germany, since the funding was German.

The film was shown first in Utrecht, where Stelling was born, raised, permanently lives and works, and where he has his own cinemas. And then “Natasha’s Dance” took part in the main “Dark Nights” competition in Tallinn and even received an award for cinematography. Stelling personally presented his film together with the performer of the role of Natasha, a graduate of the Leningrad Theater Institute (LGITMiKa), Anastasia Weinmar, who has lived in Berlin for a long time.

She is from St. Petersburg and speaks several languages ​​well, including Dutch, which greatly simplified the filming process. In Berlin, Anastasia plays Edith Piaf in the play “It’s Me – Edith Piaf” based on the play by Nina Mazur.

Why is her character in the new film called Natasha? First of all, this is connected with Natasha Rostova. For Stelling, the heroine of War and Peace is a symbol of Russian culture. He was struck by the story of the Decembrist Fonvizin and his wife Natalya, who followed her husband into Siberian exile, and he looked for her image. And I found it intuitively, but surely, while walking through the halls of the Pushkin Museum. In an interview with our colleague Olga Surkova, who has lived in Amsterdam for many years, he said that without knowing what Natalya Fonvizina looked like, he chose an actress similar to her. This was Anastasia Vainmar. And she, as it turned out later, dances well.

This is a love story between a Dutch man who lost his mother and a Russian woman with a rich past. She once had a wealthy husband – a Dutchman. And now she becomes like a mother to the orphaned protagonist. They go to Russia to look for Natasha’s grandmother’s house. Both are lonely. Stelling says in Tallinn that this is a very personal film for him, and it’s not about the biography, but about the worldview.

Stelling himself has visited Russia several times and knows Soviet and Russian cinema well. His film “Dushka” appeared after meeting St. Petersburg journalist Yuri Konenko, whom Stelling wanted to film in the title role, but in the end invited Sergei Makovetsky. Still, you can’t pull off such a complex role without acting education. One of the candidates for Dushka was Pyotr Mamonov, but at the moment when the search for the performer was underway, he was in the hospital. But working in a clinic would be painful, and Stelling abandoned his idea.

He has said more than once in his interviews, including with MK, that he considers Russian actors the best in the world. After he attended “Uncle Vanya” at the Vakhtangov Theater at the invitation of Sergei Makovetsky, he admired the level of the actors’ performances and highly appreciated the performance, despite the language barrier. He visited post-Soviet festivals many times and even the Cultural Forum in St. Petersburg before the pandemic. He was endlessly presented with awards in Yerevan, Kyiv, Moscow, and given gifts. He could furnish his house with these gifts, since they presented him with sets, carpets… This was funny for a European, and Stelling gently laughed at our traditions in his cinema.