 |
|
Asthenic Syndrome / Asthenic Syndrom
Russia (1989)
About the film
Vivid fragments of people's modern lives create a mosaic of poetry
and sadness. When her husband dies, Natasha, a doctor, finds she cannot
cope with living alone. Her life is in ruins. Another person who
can't reach out to others is the teacher Nikolai, depressed because
his pupils think so differently from him that there appears to be no
point in even trying to communicate any more. In another vignette, a
mother and son live together, sitting in front of the television like
strangers. An artist attempts to glorify everyday life, but only
succeeds in emphasizing a sense of isolation and aimlessness. One of
the main characters dies a terrifying banal death in the underground.
Meanwhile on the streets, the people queue up for rationed foodstuffs,
still chatting about love and humanism while life goes on.
Winner of the Silver Bear at Berlin International Film Festival,
1990
Director's filmography
Kira Muratova (b. 1934 in Soroki, Romania, now part of Moldova)
is the daughter of a Romanian mother and Russian father (maiden name
Korotkov). She first studied philology at the Moscow University then
directing at the Moscow Film School VGIK. Her films Brief
Encounters (1967) and The Long Goodbye (1971)
were banned until 1986.
Her directing career began with a film which she co-directed with her
husband Alexander Muratov, On the Steep Cliff (1963),
followed by Our Honest Bread (1964). Her solo career
includes Brief Encounters (1967), Getting to Know the
Big Wide World (1979), Among Grey Stones (1983,
which she directed under the pseudonym Ivan Sidarov), Change of
Fortune (1984), A Long Goodbye (produced 1971,
released 1987, was the FIPRESCI Prize winner at the 1987 Locarno
International Film Festival), Aesthenic Syndrome
(1989), Sentimental Policeman (1992),
Passions (1994, winner of the 1994 Russian Film Academy Nike
Award for Best Director, Best Film), Three Stories (1997,
nominated for the Golden Bear award at the 1997 Berlin International
Film Festival), and her latest film, a 21-minute short entitled A
Letter to America (1999).
|
|
|
153 min., color and b/w, 35mm
Russian with English subtitles
Director: Kira Muratova
Screenplay: Sergei Popov, Aleksandr Tschernych, Kira
Muratova
Dir. of photography:
Vladimir Pankow
Music: Franz Shubert
Editor: Valentina Olejnik
Production: Goskino, Odessa
Film Studios
Cast: Sergei Popov, Olga Antonova, Natalja Busko, Galina
Sachurdaewa, Aleksandra Ovenskaja, Pavel Polischnuk
THE HOLLOWAY
FILE
Database of Russian and Ex-Soviet Union directors
FREEDOM FILM FESTIVAL POSTER
|
