The Sky. The Plane. The Girl.

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, 2002, 90 min
Section: A Female Take on Russia

Synopsis

This re-make of the once popular melodrama Once More about Love (1968) was initiated by screenwriter and actress Renata Litvinova, who is also familiar as a television presenter and director. She was encouraged to appear in front of the camera by Kira Muratova, who was enchanted by her glamourous looks and especially her quirky manner. Director Vera Storozheva also passed through the Muratova school while involved in the latter’s films Asthenic Syndrome (1989) and Three Stories (1997). Litvinova transferred the provocative tones of Muratova’s effusive and histrionic film characters to the female lead written with herself in mind, the stewardess Lara, whom she endows with the virtue of unconditional love. In contrast to the original play which inspired the film (Edvard Radzinsky’s 104 Pages about Love), Lara surrenders herself not to a rational scientist, but to an impetuous journalist whom she often passes during the course of her working day. Her sublime love is pitched between faith and scepticism and, no matter how profound and real it is, she presents it as a light-hearted game…

About the director

Vera Storozheva (b. 1958, Chelyabinsk region) studied at Moscow’s State Institute of Culture (1983) and attended the Higher Courses of Script Writers and Directors (1993). She and her husband, screenwriter and actor Sergei Popov, worked closely with Kira Muratova. She made 25 TV documentaries and the series "Live Pushkin” (Zhivoy Pushkin, 1999). After her short feature Divorce (Rozvod, 1992) she debuted in feature film with The Sky. The Plane. The Girl. (Nyebo. Samolyot. Dyevushka., 2002), screened in Venice. This was followed by the melodrama Frenchman (Francuz, 2003) and The Greek Vacation (Grecheskiye kanikuly, 2005). Her film Travelling with Pets (Putyeshestviye s domashnimi zhivotnymi, 2007) won the highest award at the Moscow IFF, the Golden St George. She also focuses on provincial situations in her latest film, Spring Will Soon Be Here (Skoro vyesna, 2009).