Through crutches to the stars – Kommersant

At the Illusion cinema, Theater HD presented the premiere of the documentary “Temporary Limitations”, which was attended by its main characters – ballerina Maria Alexandrova and prime minister Vladislav Lantratov, who recorded in the “reality show” genre their recovery from severe injuries – ruptures of the Achilles tendon, happened in 2019 with an interval of two weeks. At the end of the week, the film will be released in more than 50 cities. About what is unique about this story and this project, tells Tatyana Kuznetsova.

From the encyclopedia: the Achilles tendon is formed from the junction of the tendons of the medial and lateral heads of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles and is attached to the calcaneal tuberosity. With its help plantar flexion is carried out. In everyday life, this is: if it is torn, a person cannot move his foot – there is simply nothing to do. In the ballet world, full of various injuries, Achilles rupture occurs infrequently, but like this – in the same family almost at the same time – and never at all.

In the credits, Andrei Denisov, one of the producers of the film, is named as the author of the idea to archive the revival process – from plaster to the first performance, but a couple of days before the premiere, Maria Aleksandrova on the air of the Kultura TV channel indicated another ideological inspirer – Lantratov himself. True, the thought dawned on the future hero of the film, when he himself was still safe and sound. But in principle, the priority is not so important as the fact that both heroes agreed to live under the constant sight of cameras during the most difficult post-traumatic months. Operators filmed them everywhere. They climbed into the kitchen, where cats roamed the countertop, and Maria washed tomatoes, lifting her leg up on the sink so that the swelling did not increase; they watched as Lantratov washed his head, putting his plastered leg on the side of the bath.

Probably, the everyday accent was intended to add intimacy to the intonation of the narration, to emphasize the everyday routine of an extreme situation, to remove pathos and pathos. In the first, “gypsum” part of the film, directed and written by Ksenia Gapchenko, there is even a bit of a bust with “everyday life”. The scene in which the premieres of the Bolshoi, both on crutches, take out the trash in the trash, even looks staged: it’s hard to believe that the artists had absolutely no one to help at least in such situations. An annoying drunken bum, cursing the heroes who got out on crutches to bask in the sun near their own house, also played an unnecessarily prominent role in the film.

On the other hand, the desire of the authors not to isolate themselves within the walls of hospitals, training and rehearsal rooms, in which, in fact, the main events in the life of the injured heroes took place, is understandable. The camera, lingering on close-ups for a long time, does not hint at hidden shooting, and, fortunately, the director did without off-screen text: the picture does not need comments. The main characters – Maria and Vlad – do not allow a single false note either in replicas, worldly abrupt and insignificant, or in behavior that excludes sentimentality like tears, hugs and other uplifting spirits. Surprisingly, the rest of the characters in the film behave just as naturally – starting with the noisy, rude surgeon-savior Alexei Balakirev and the wise, patient ballet teacher Valery Lagunov, ending with the German doctors in Augsburg, where the characters are completing their rehabilitation.

A curious camera examines in detail all the physiological details: how the plaster is cut, what a swollen ankle with fallen muscles looks like, how the toes of naughty legs barely move, how hellishly difficult the first step is without crutches, what heels the special shoes invented by doctors have. Fixes, getting stuck on injured feet and faces for a long time, all the details of the recovery process – from “sitting” exercises and devices like paperweights that improve the work of stitched tendons, to the first steps at the ballet barre. The two climaxes mark recovery. The first – the return of heroes to normal life – is embodied in a lyrical episode in Shchelykovo: an autumn forest, baskets, mushrooms, a simple Russian feast visiting the People’s Artist of the USSR Vladimir Vasiliev, his story about “Katya” – his wife Ekaterina Maksimova, whom doctors predicted after a spinal injury complete immobility, and she danced for many more years. The second one, with a stage light and applause, tells about the return of the heroes to the profession in January 2020 (the credits specify: Maria entered the stage 312 days after the injury, Vlad – after 252 days): Lantratov is somewhat stiff, but technically flawless dances a complex jump variation Prince in The Nutcracker at the Bolshoi Theatre; Maria, a couple of weeks later, Carmen’s love duet with José Lantratov at the international gala at Covent Garden. But here, too, the filmmakers managed to do without fanfare: Maria’s remark “The feet are not ready …” slightly overshadows the happy backstage hugs.

The film does not report that the heroes after their return were waiting for new roles and new victories: Maria, already bred by age for the staff of the Bolshoi, will become a wonderful Masha in the golden mask “Seagull” of the theater, Vladislav will receive a personal “Golden Mask” for the role of Trigorin. Time Limits has a different role: this quiet hymn to courage and perseverance can be life-saving for many traumatized. And not only physical.