A Driver for Vera

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, 2004, 114 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

1962. General Serov leaves Moscow with a warning and a new handsome chauffer named Viktor. At a villa near the Sevastopol naval base, Viktor inadvertently observes the general’s limping daughter, Vera, seeking in vain to get an abortion. The general suspects the KGB of trying to accuse him of an accident for which he is blameless, and he takes countermeasures. He senses that in Viktor he has a devoted protector and, promising him a career, he requests that Viktor marry Vera. She at first demurs but ultimately agrees. When the KGB starts putting pressure on the general, Viktor manifests exceptional courage.... The anti-Soviet pathos of the film rests on the thorough applicationof a Khrushchev-era film style and the sophisticated intermingling of political events with the film’s gentle intimate level. The confrontation between the lifestyles of the elite and ordinary people offered the cast a wonderful opportunity to express the typical mentality and character of the protagonists.

About the director

Pavel Chukhrai (b. 1946, Moscow) graduated in camera (1971) from Moscow’s Film School (VGIK) and then in direction (1974). He has shot the films Remember Sometimes (Ti inogda vspominay, 1978), People in the Ocean (Lyudi v okeane, 1980; Special Prize at the Moscow IFF), A Canary Cage (Kletka dlya kanareyek, 1983) and Zina-Zinulya (1986). Three made-for-TV movies followed: That’s How You’ll Remember Me (Zapomnite menya takoy, 1978), The Key (Klyuch, 1992; for Channel 7), and the documentary Hawk (Jastreb, 1993) about controversial politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky. His writer-director effort The Thief (Vor, 1997; screened at Karlovy Vary) took a Gold Medal at Venice, was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and was honoured at the Russian National Film Awards with five Nikas, including Best Director and Best Film. The documentary Children from the Abyss (Deti iz bezdny, 2000) is Russia’s contribution to Steven Spielberg’s international project on the Holocaust.