Summary
Remarkable film that describes Khrushchev's Russia from the point of view of a French student of Russian literature. A fresco with the youthful effervescence in the incipient thaw that was lived in confrontation with the darker world of the survivors of Stalinism, in a game of contrasts highlighted even by elements of the staging.
Actually, a Russian look, located far from the schematics of the West.
Review
Pierre Duran (Anton Rival) is a French communist student, with a French mother, who went to Moscow in 1957 to undertake a postgraduate course on Russian literature at its University and inquire about the fate and whereabouts of a Russian relative detained during Stalinism.
Pierre becomes involved with dancer Kira Galkina (Evguenia Obrastzova, a Russian Gina Lollobrigida) and photographer Valeriy Uspenskiy (Evgeniy Tkachuk), members of Russia's incipiently dissident youth scene that begins to experience the thaw of the era of Premier Nikita Khrushchev, whoever succeeded in power none other than Stalin. The "de-Stalinization" that he undertook began to moderately relax certain controls and internal vigilance, while certain semi-clandestine cultural activities and products entered the ambiguous and still dangerous and shifting terrain of the "not allowed, but also not prohibited." Regardless, political dissent (and movements of foreigners) remained closely watched and sanctioned.
Director Andrey Smirnov proposes an intelligent game of opposites, mainly between generations and, to a lesser extent, between the protagonist's (Euro) communism and the so-called real socialism he encounters, contrasts enhanced by various elements of the staging. The film portrays very well these contrast between this effervescent youth and the members of his parents' generation, with some of whom (including distant relatives) Pierre meets to find out the whereabouts of his Russian relative, detained for political reasons over the years 30. These people, some intellectuals, appear, in general, as sad, defeated and skeptical, constituting an example of how many Russians at that time had the tremendous burden of war and a past of political detainees: a life of survivors . On the other hand, other classes appear that are an active part of the regime or are adapted to it.
The black and white photography of Andrey Smirnov's film reinforces the scrupulous and immersive reconstruction of the period, giving the scenes starring young people a nouvelle vague air that fades and becomes deeply Russian when the mature characters appear. Highlighting the contrast of styles noted above. In certain scenes (particularly in a particular and correctly meditated one), the fixed plane and the interiors impose a theatrical imprint on them, a dynamic of rest in front of the scenes with young people where movement and, sometimes, exteriors prevail.
In accordance with the above, it is worth highlighting the marking of the performances, deliberately more naturalistic in the case of mature actors and somewhat more melodramatic in the case of younger ones, starting with the very good performance of Anton Rival, who ends up synthesizing both styles.
In short, an interesting game of opposites between generations of young and old and between the incipient Eurocommunism and real socialism, from a Russian perspective (that of the director) far from the schematics of the West.
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