Moscow

Colour, 35mm
Russia, 2000, 145 min
Section: East of the West

Synopsis

Director Alexander Zeldovich had this to say about his film: “There are six characters in the film – three men and three women. Each of them is reminiscent of some character from Chekhov: Irina is like Ranevskaya, Mike is like Lopakhin, Mark is similar to both Dr Astrov and Uncle Vanya, and the three women taken as a whole are like the three sisters.” Screenwriter Vladimir Sorokin commented: “The nineties were such a stormy and strange decade that it isn’t possible to analyse them without a certain distance. Chekhov and the new (for me) film language offer a mirror indispensable for creating an artistic reflection of the period. In essence, the Russian world has changed very little since Chekhov’s day. If the characters from Moscow were to sit at a table with their prototypes from Three Sisters or The Cherry Orchard they would easily find a common language. This film reminds me of a dream: it is about people who live in the space of dreams. If we speak of the Moscow of the nineties, then we are speaking of a very lively phase of the eternal Russian dream.”

About the director

Alexander Zeldovich (b. 1958, Moscow) graduated in psychology from Moscow State University (1980) and from the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors (1986). In addition to his film career he has worked as a psychologist in Moscow hospitals. Short films: At Night, Through the City (Nochiu po gorodu, 1983), The Kids (Mayva, 1984 – inspired by M. Gorky) and The Amazon (Voitelnitsa, 1986 – inspired by N. Leskov). His feature debut was entitled Sunset (Zakat, 1990 – inspired by I. Babel). In 1993-94 he received a NIPKOW-program grant which enabled him to study production in Berlin and work on a project about Chagall. His controversial film Moscow (2000) is sometimes compared to Kira Muratova’s The Asthenic Syndrome (1991) due to its treatment of the psychological condition of today’s Russian population.