I have to say, today's film was extremely long, but it held my attention the entire time. The film was directed by Vladimir Menshov in 1979. The story starts off with these three provincial women who come to Moscow. The first female, Antonnia wants a family. Katerina, the main character, is trying to get a degree and also works at a factory. The second girl, Lyudmila is friend of Katerina. She comes up with a plan to seduce wealthy men while pretending to be daughters of a rich professor. Katerina meets a camerman, Rudolf. Rudolf rapes Katerina and eventually causes her to become pregnant. Rudolf abandons her, and Katerina raises her daughter, Alexandra on her own. We then jump to a huge leap forward in time. Katerina is still not married, but is a director of the factory. Alexandria is now a teenager. Katerina unexpectedly meets a man on the train, names Gosha. They eventually fall in love. Things don't look good though, as Rudolf returns and ruins everything between her and Gosha. She then wins him back in the end, and the last scenes shows them having dinner.
A lot of the films we have been watching in class lately have been about the Soviet Union and related to war themes, but I was actually happy for the change of genre today, it was refreshing. What I really liked about this film was how viewers can relate to the characters. Maybe not in the exact situation, but how us human beings struggle emotionally, but at the same time we can accomplish our dreams. Katerina was going through so much, since she didn't have any respect for herself or no one was treating her that well, until later in the film. Katerina represented a strong, independent female who was providing for herself and her daughter. Gosha was a great match to her, as he was a male that truly appreciated her, unlike her previous lover. I really liked the acting, music, and there was even a bit of humor in the film that I enjoyed. I think this might be one of my favorites I have watched in class, and I would not mind watching again.
Some people are a bit bothered about the way she kind of crumples up at the end and loses her independence--clearly needing the man to come back to her who has told her he thinks women should hold a lower status than their husbands. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI'm of mixed feelings about it--there's just something about their relationship that I can't help liking, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is...