Chekhov's Motifs

  • March 13, 2016 / 14:00

Director: Kira Muratova
Cast: Sergey Bekhterev, Nina Ruslanova, Natalya Buzko
Russia, Ukraine, 2002, 120’, black & white

Russian with Turkish subtitles

Based on two works by Chekhov, the play Tatiana Repina and the short story Difficult People, Chekhov's Motifs is a fascinating diptych, two parts that share characters but on the surface little else. The film begins as a young man returns to his small village to borrow money, a request that sets off a bitter confrontation between him and his father. The long-suffering wife (and mother) can do little but look on. Kira Muratova powerfully captures the emotional rawness of this generational confrontation, exposing a wide array of issues and prejudices. After the son runs out of the house, he walks into a wedding service taking place in the local Orthodox Church. The groom is an overweight opera singer, and the bride and her family are grotesque examples of Russia's nouveaux riches. Yet the point here is less satire perhaps than Muratova's meticulous rendition of the entire ceremony, refusing the spectator a comfortable distance from which to judge these characters by bringing us into the world of the film itself.

Brief Encounters

Brief Encounters

Passions

Passions

The Asthenic Syndrome

The Asthenic Syndrome

The Tuner

The Tuner

Three Stories

Three Stories

Chekhov's Motifs

Chekhov's Motifs

Female Attires from the Perspective of Painters

Female Attires from the Perspective of Painters

Due to its existence behind closed doors, the lifestyle and attires of the women in the Harem have been one of the most fascinating topics for western painters and art enthusiasts alike.

Postcard Nudes

Postcard Nudes

The various states of viewing nudity entered the Ottoman world on postcards before paintings. These postcards appeared in the 1890s, and became widespread in the 1910s, following the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Monarchy, traveling from hand to hand, city to city. 

Geography

Geography

Pera Museum’s Cold Front from the Balkans exhibition curated by Ali Akay and Alenka Gregorič brings together contemporary artists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.