Plus One

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, 2008, 96 min
Section: A Female Take on Russia

Synopsis

After a failed marriage, Masha retreats to the sanctuary of her humble profession as a translator of serious literature. Financial difficulties force her to accept an offer to interpret during a seminar held by an English puppeteer. Tom performs in front of the young Russians with a puppet which assumes the role of his better alter ego. Its witty remarks examine and correct Tom’s motives. It’s probably for this reason that the touchy Masha, determined to ignore the young man’s annoying behaviour, rises to the challenge of his interlocutor. Against her principles, and to her own surprise, she finds she enjoys the foolhardy ventures initiated by the resourceful Tom. Their mutual infatuation is however complicated by the fact that these two very different people are unable to invest enough feeling into the relationship… In this spirited love story, the director plays around with the disparity between the character and mentality of the protagonists. She pokes fun at Russian sexual complexes and the kind of self-centred unruliness found in the West, while at the same time adding colour to the plot using film-clip shots, gags and atmospheric scenes of the busy streets of contemporary Moscow.

About the director

Oksana Bychkova (b. 1972, Donetsk) graduated from the Higher Courses of Script Writers and Directors (2002). During her studies she made the short films Two Sides of Glass (Dve storony styekla, 2001) and Three Sisters (Tri sestry, 2002). Her feature film debut Piter FM (Pityer FM, 2005), about the relationship between a wacky radio presenter and a young architect, set against the poetic backdrop of St Petersburg, was not only a hit with Russian audiences, but also won a series of domestic awards. Her new film Plus One also presents a love story, which unfolds via the agitated rhythms of video clips in order to capture the oddities of love.