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

The Chronicle of Sarajevo

The Chronicle of Sarajevo

Inspired by the great European masters, from Renaissance to Art Nouveau, Berber’s works exemplify the deep, opaque whites of his journeys through the fairy tale landscapes of Bosnia to the dark, macabre burrows of Srebrenica.

The Battle of Varna

The Battle of Varna

Over the years of 1864 through 1876, Stanisław Chlebowski served Sultan Abdülaziz in Istanbul as his court painter. As it was, Abdülaziz disposed of considerable artistic talents of his own, and he actively involved himself in Chlebowski’s creative process, suggesting ideas for compositions –such as ballistic pieces praising the victories of Turkish arms. 

Dancing on Architecture

Dancing on Architecture

I think it was Frank Zappa – though others claim it was Laurie Anderson – who said in an interview that ‘writing on music is much like dancing on architecture’.