The Best of Times

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, 2007, 93 min
Section: A Female Take on Russia

About the film

Two elderly women are united by a peculiar compassion founded on hatred ignited by their rival passions for a man who died many years ago. They both once loved him but the one he eventually chose and for whom he committed a reckless act, abandoned him. He then married the woman who served him devotedly but her feelings remained unrequited… The two heroines are played by six actresses embodying the indiscretion of youth, the idle misuse of opportunities in later years, and the folly of old age, when they are unable to come to terms with their fate. Returning to various stages of what was essentially a banal relationship, the film highlights the fundamentally different reflections of women who idealise a quite ordinary, dull man. The characters’ illogical behaviour is offset by eloquent dialogue taken from the play Valentine’s Day by dramatist and director Ivan Vyrypaev. The drama’s existential charge is intensified by sophisticated use of retrospective psychology, the special atmosphere of the story and the timeless, unexceptional scenery of the coastal town and surrounding region.

About the director

Svetlana Proskurina (b. 1948, Krivets) studied theatre science in Leningrad (1973) and graduated from the Higher Courses of Script Writers and Directors in 1982. She made the documentaries Krestyanin, Islands. Alexander Sokurov (Ostrova. Alexander Sokurov), That’s the Right Way of Life, Krestyanin! (Pravilno zhivyotye, krestyanin!), and she was involved in the screenplay for Sokurov’s film Russian Ark (Rusky kovcheg). She debuted with the feature film Children’s Playground (Dyetskaya ploshchadka, 1986) and, for the film Incidental Waltz (Sluchainy vals, 1998), she received a Golden Leopard at the Locarno IFF. This was followed by Reflection in the Mirror (Otrazheniye v zerkale, 1992) and a TV documentary about artists Ernst Neizvestny and Mikhail Shemyakin (1997). The film Remote Access (Udalyonny dostup, 2004) was screened in competition in Venice and at the KVIFF 2005, and The Best of Times was shown at a series of festivals.