Thorns and stars of Elena Metelkina: the actress of unearthly beauty was saved by the church

In 1982, Elena received the Silver Asteroid prize for best actress at the International Film Festival in Italy. Two years later, the multi-part film “Guest from the Future” was released – the role of Polina was written specifically for Metelkina. On the day of her anniversary, Elena told MK about her thorns and stars: how the modeling podium brought her to a church service, where she spent her anniversary on October 23.

Model

– You dreamed of becoming an actress since school, you went through two unsuccessful attempts to enter a university. How did you manage to realize your dream?

– Yes, after school I wanted to act in films. I was invited to an episode (the 1973 film Shores directed by Ekaterina Stashevskaya – Ed.). Then I tried to go to college, but it didn’t work out. Afterwards, by invitation, I photographed for a fashion magazine on Kuznetsky Most. And I went to the podium in GUM – this is my cradle, I grew up there as a fashion model. In GUM they found me for my main role.

– Did you feel like a prima on the podium?

– No. Firstly, I was very thin, unconventional and wore romantic things. I didn’t put myself above anyone. She loved the audience and was always friendly to them. And I received kind responses from them.

– Have you ever worked with fashion masters Vyacheslav Zaitsev and Valentin Yudashkin?

– About 10 years ago I appeared in Zaitsev’s show. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich dreamed of a fashion renaissance and periodically invited all his favorites of his youth to shows. This brought generations together. It somehow didn’t work out with Yudashkin.

– Has your style changed since coming to church?

– The attitude towards the wardrobe has become more restrained. But I didn’t stop using cosmetics. Beginners sometimes immediately change their usual image, even lose it – I am against this. There is no need to paint your lips brightly, but slightly correcting some defects, covering them with tone, lining your eyes is not forbidden.

I continue to do this and believe that this is acceptable. I wear the length of the skirt allowed by the church – covering the knee, sweaters with closed sleeves.

I never opened up. And in general, the simpler the better. I like to wear various jumpers and straight-cut skirts to church – not long, they are inconvenient in transport. And the usual accessories: gloves, scarves, handbag – everything is the same as before.

– Have you used the services of plastic surgeons?

– No. My example of natural aging is Brigitte Bardot with cats and dogs. And I recommend it to all women. In the profession, you can see when a face is touched by a surgeon, when a favorite actor has done something to the face. Russian women look beautiful anyway. I am against plastic surgery and do not recommend it.

– Is it true that in your life you have never shied away from any kind of work?

– Absolutely. Immediately after school I worked in a technical library. From there she ran to filming at the Model House on Kuznetsky Most.

20 years after working on the podium, in the nineties, I went to work as a secretary – girls I knew recommended me to Ivan Kharlampievich Kivelidi (banker, one of the richest people in Russia in those years – Ed.). After completing the course, I found myself among wonderful Georgian businessmen, as if among good brothers.

It was a friendly group in which we trusted each other. But overnight we lost our boss. (Ivan Kivelidi was poisoned with a potent poison placed in a telephone receiver – Ed.). Such sadness visited me… And then I began to go to church more and pray. After stress and parting with our businessmen, I worked as a cleaner in a church, then as a teacher in an after-school group.

One day a friend said: “Len, they’re opening an Obuv store nearby, we need to try it.” Little by little I learned to be a sales consultant and became friends with many buyers. For me, the hardest thing there after the things from the catwalk was getting used to the uniform: a black skirt, a red T-shirt, a branded scarf around the neck…

In church I was even once reproached for my untidiness and too simple style: “Come on, go back to your style, it’s not forbidden in church.” I listened, did not give up on my image, they accepted me and allowed me to be myself.

– You have a unique gait, directors started your star films with it. Have experts in the fashion world invited you to work abroad?

– It could be. But, fortunately, this passed me by. Surely some temptations would begin. I do not regret. For me, somehow everything happened in my homeland.

– Where do you like to relax?

– Previously, I had trips to Crimea with my girlfriend. I even went to Cyprus once. I saw Europe, how the fashion model traveled to the Far East, the Arctic Circle, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Lake Baikal. I saw a lot of interesting things. But then I became a homebody with hobbies at home: I like to read, do handicrafts, and collect bracelets.

Mother

– Marriage brought you a lot of mental suffering: your husband turned out to be a swindler – he already had a wife and child, and he married you for the sake of the planned benefit in the divorce. Why did your relationship with your husband reach the Supreme Court? (Elena married a native of Zaporozhye, a tailor named Sergei, they met in Yalta – Ed).

– Because all the judicial stages have passed. In the city court they let me down; not everything is fair. I received threats from my husband. I ran to court secretly at dawn, on thin legs, in my fashion coat with documents that were not in my purse – I pressed them to my chest. I no longer trusted anyone, I just ran, counted only on myself and prayed. The first thing we need to ask for is patience – and oddly enough, this is sent to us the fastest. And the way out of the situation is always found only through patience.

– Did someone rush to your aid then?

“When the fans found out that this ex-husband was offending me, that I was looking for protection even in court so that he would not take away my apartment, one kind person came up to me near the house and said: “I want to protect you.”

– He turned out to be a lawyer?

– No, it was just a knight. He offered to defend me, but I refused. I lived then with the idea that I could do everything myself – as the daughter of an officer, I was determined to win on my own.

– Your son Alexander grew up without a father. Did he want to meet him?

“I didn’t speak badly about this man, but my son could read my distrust of him.” That’s why he treated him somewhat coldly. But my father treated his son well, and after that, my sister’s husband took him fishing from the age of 11, and the son got used to being close to Uncle Oleg. They became such good friends that for 20 years they traveled to the Volga in the company of friends and their wives. Such classic fishing on the island. Wild holiday. We spent our time with great pleasure.

Actress

– What historical character would you play on the theater stage without rehearsals?

– There is no such thing. In the theater, an actor’s voice is important, and I’m not a theater actress. I had a silent act on the podium. My father told me: “Don’t take part in everyday history, don’t act in films – remain in memory as a good alien. Only space themes, I don’t bless you to film for anything else.”

My heroine Niya from “Through Hardships to the Stars” touched the viewer’s heart. She also had a Russian element in her character – love for her homeland, she remained on her planet Dessa.

– What about your mysterious character – the unearthly Polina from the film “Guests from the Future”?

“She had the opportunity to come from the future to the past and know how to help people – this is a great mission. Also a very unusual role. This film is repeated every school holiday, children watch it with pleasure, and psychotherapists recommend it. It is in the top five domestic films that stabilize the psyche.

Believer

– You once mentioned that during confession the priest is, first of all, a psychologist for you. How did you come to the church?

– Any priest is a psychoanalyst. I’ve known Father Mikhail for a long time, 20 years already. His view of your situation through the prism of Orthodoxy will always be very faithful, simple-minded and wise. And if you really want to know how to get out of a difficult situation, to ease moral pain, we have so many highly educated priests, they will help any person, even a non-Christian.

There are many holy people in Orthodoxy who left us their books, where there are answers to questions: how to live, how to lead a good life in family, loneliness, how to die, because we are all temporary.

– What happened to you 30 years ago?

– At that time I was interested in different religions. Even when I was working as a secretary for a businessman, a woman asked me through an open window to make a copy of a document. I got into a conversation with her, she asked: “How do you pray, do you go to church?” And she called me to a service at the courtyard of the Valaam Monastery. There, first we had to help clean up – beat out carpets, sort through potatoes.

When I came there, I was absolutely worldly – a secretary after work on the podium, very modern. And she immediately received such attention in the strict environment of monasticism! I even joined the sisterhood. They treat the laity with care, very tactfully. There I received initial nurturing, it turned out to be very healing. I trusted these wise people.

In the past, my abbot was a teacher. After my mother got sick, I was blessed to go to the temple closest to my house. Little by little we became friends with Father Mikhail. I started going to the choir of the temple next to my house. My routine has changed.

Personal

– How did you perceive the SVO?

“As the daughter of an officer, I decided that this would all pass quickly. And then I realized that Russia’s role extended not only to one region of our homeland. The problem turned out to be broader. The world is now looking at us. And there are already many supporters of the Russian position, the Russian view. Russia is trying for the whole world! It’s hard for us, but our supporters are growing more and more.

When we meet in church with parishioners whose husbands are on the front line, we always hug, and I ask you to stop evil, bring people to their senses, destroy plans and throw off the enemy’s sights. Hear the goodwill of Russia. In all our churches every day there is a powerful stream of prayers for every soldier.

– What do you regret?

“I don’t regret anything, and I also ask my son not to regret anything, to try to preserve the main thing and look straight into the future, without making previous mistakes.”

– What haven’t you told anyone yet?

– I am a very frank person and I tell the priest everything in confession. I don’t talk about the sins of other people – I don’t want to talk about that and I won’t.

Blitz

– The last time I was ashamed was when…

– I didn’t help anyone.

– I wouldn’t want my loved ones to know that as a child I…

– I tried smoking.

– The first time life disappointed me was when…

“I killed a bee and hurt a kitten.”

If I were not myself, I would certainly become…

– A sage.

– People make mistakes when…

– They talk “under the driver’s seat.”

– I can’t do without…

– Faith in God.

I was absolutely happy that day when…

– I took communion for the first time.

– The greatest difficulty I had to overcome in life was…

– Give up desires.

– My most extravagant prank…

– There was an exit to the podium.

– It might make me blush…

– I’m not blushing. I am indignant and angry, I flare up like a match, but not for long.

– If I had two tickets to heaven, I would…

– I shared.