19th(2017)
Brief Encounters
Kira MURATOVA
- Ukraine
- 1967
- Korean Premiere
- 91min
- DCP
- black and white
- Fiction
Korean Premiere
SYNOPSIS
Maxim has captured the hearts of two very different women – his zealous wife Valentina, a high-ranking official, and Nadya, the naive young village lass he met on one of his expeditions. The girl goes in search of Maxim and ends up working for his wife, of whose existence she was totally unaware. Valentina mistakes Nadya for the new maid and the latter accepts her offer of a job just so she can get close to Maxim. But on the eve of his return home Nadya realizes that she has no part in this story. The unusual structure of the film, woven from scattered, non-linear reminiscences, together with its vision of the social disenchantment to come, rattled party officials to the extent that, within a few days of the premiere, it was sent to the censor’s vault for 20 years.
When Weakness Syndome, directed by Kira MURATOVA won the Silver Bear award in the Berlinale in 1990, her previous directorial works Brief Encounters, A Long Goodbye, etc. were brought to the worldwide attention. The light shed upon her works led her to be regarded as one of the representative women filmmakers in the post-Soviet films along with Larissa SHEPITKO and Dinara ASANOVA. The Créteil International Women\'s Film Festival in France held a retrospective screening of Kira MURATOVA’s works in 1988, but, to Korean audiences, her works still remain rather unknown films in need of being excavated and studied.
Apparently Brief Encounters looks like a melodramatic film dealing with the love triangle. The film is about the relationships among Valentina, an executive member of local committee, her husband Maksim, a geologist, and Nadia, a rural girl who falls in love with Maksim during his research on minerals in the rural area. The role of Maksim is, however, nothing but an excuse to converge and complete the film’s narrative. The film reveals irrecoverable social gaps in the Soviet Union in the 1960s between city and rural area, middle class and working class, and woman laborer and traditional housewife via Valentina and Nadia. Even in the Post-revolution era, women were still forced to be mothers and housewives, and the speech of Valentina who tries to break away for this conventional role starts with “Dear Comrades…”, but is never put to an end. The constant flashbacks rushing toward these two women’s present register socio-psychological crisis in which these women are situated. (Sunah KIM)
When Weakness Syndome, directed by Kira MURATOVA won the Silver Bear award in the Berlinale in 1990, her previous directorial works Brief Encounters, A Long Goodbye, etc. were brought to the worldwide attention. The light shed upon her works led her to be regarded as one of the representative women filmmakers in the post-Soviet films along with Larissa SHEPITKO and Dinara ASANOVA. The Créteil International Women\'s Film Festival in France held a retrospective screening of Kira MURATOVA’s works in 1988, but, to Korean audiences, her works still remain rather unknown films in need of being excavated and studied.
Apparently Brief Encounters looks like a melodramatic film dealing with the love triangle. The film is about the relationships among Valentina, an executive member of local committee, her husband Maksim, a geologist, and Nadia, a rural girl who falls in love with Maksim during his research on minerals in the rural area. The role of Maksim is, however, nothing but an excuse to converge and complete the film’s narrative. The film reveals irrecoverable social gaps in the Soviet Union in the 1960s between city and rural area, middle class and working class, and woman laborer and traditional housewife via Valentina and Nadia. Even in the Post-revolution era, women were still forced to be mothers and housewives, and the speech of Valentina who tries to break away for this conventional role starts with “Dear Comrades…”, but is never put to an end. The constant flashbacks rushing toward these two women’s present register socio-psychological crisis in which these women are situated. (Sunah KIM)
PROGRAM NOTE
Korean Premiere
SYNOPSIS
Maxim has captured the hearts of two very different women – his zealous wife Valentina, a high-ranking official, and Nadya, the naive young village lass he met on one of his expeditions. The girl goes in search of Maxim and ends up working for his wife, of whose existence she was totally unaware. Valentina mistakes Nadya for the new maid and the latter accepts her offer of a job just so she can get close to Maxim. But on the eve of his return home Nadya realizes that she has no part in this story. The unusual structure of the film, woven from scattered, non-linear reminiscences, together with its vision of the social disenchantment to come, rattled party officials to the extent that, within a few days of the premiere, it was sent to the censor’s vault for 20 years.
PROGRAM NOTE
When Weakness Syndome, directed by Kira MURATOVA won the Silver Bear award in the Berlinale in 1990, her previous directorial works Brief Encounters, A Long Goodbye, etc. were brought to the worldwide attention. The light shed upon her works led her to be regarded as one of the representative women filmmakers in the post-Soviet films along with Larissa SHEPITKO and Dinara ASANOVA. The Créteil International Women\'s Film Festival in France held a retrospective screening of Kira MURATOVA’s works in 1988, but, to Korean audiences, her works still remain rather unknown films in need of being excavated and studied.
Apparently Brief Encounters looks like a melodramatic film dealing with the love triangle. The film is about the relationships among Valentina, an executive member of local committee, her husband Maksim, a geologist, and Nadia, a rural girl who falls in love with Maksim during his research on minerals in the rural area. The role of Maksim is, however, nothing but an excuse to converge and complete the film’s narrative. The film reveals irrecoverable social gaps in the Soviet Union in the 1960s between city and rural area, middle class and working class, and woman laborer and traditional housewife via Valentina and Nadia. Even in the Post-revolution era, women were still forced to be mothers and housewives, and the speech of Valentina who tries to break away for this conventional role starts with “Dear Comrades…”, but is never put to an end. The constant flashbacks rushing toward these two women’s present register socio-psychological crisis in which these women are situated. (Sunah KIM)
SYNOPSIS
Maxim has captured the hearts of two very different women – his zealous wife Valentina, a high-ranking official, and Nadya, the naive young village lass he met on one of his expeditions. The girl goes in search of Maxim and ends up working for his wife, of whose existence she was totally unaware. Valentina mistakes Nadya for the new maid and the latter accepts her offer of a job just so she can get close to Maxim. But on the eve of his return home Nadya realizes that she has no part in this story. The unusual structure of the film, woven from scattered, non-linear reminiscences, together with its vision of the social disenchantment to come, rattled party officials to the extent that, within a few days of the premiere, it was sent to the censor’s vault for 20 years.
PROGRAM NOTE
When Weakness Syndome, directed by Kira MURATOVA won the Silver Bear award in the Berlinale in 1990, her previous directorial works Brief Encounters, A Long Goodbye, etc. were brought to the worldwide attention. The light shed upon her works led her to be regarded as one of the representative women filmmakers in the post-Soviet films along with Larissa SHEPITKO and Dinara ASANOVA. The Créteil International Women\'s Film Festival in France held a retrospective screening of Kira MURATOVA’s works in 1988, but, to Korean audiences, her works still remain rather unknown films in need of being excavated and studied.
Apparently Brief Encounters looks like a melodramatic film dealing with the love triangle. The film is about the relationships among Valentina, an executive member of local committee, her husband Maksim, a geologist, and Nadia, a rural girl who falls in love with Maksim during his research on minerals in the rural area. The role of Maksim is, however, nothing but an excuse to converge and complete the film’s narrative. The film reveals irrecoverable social gaps in the Soviet Union in the 1960s between city and rural area, middle class and working class, and woman laborer and traditional housewife via Valentina and Nadia. Even in the Post-revolution era, women were still forced to be mothers and housewives, and the speech of Valentina who tries to break away for this conventional role starts with “Dear Comrades…”, but is never put to an end. The constant flashbacks rushing toward these two women’s present register socio-psychological crisis in which these women are situated. (Sunah KIM)
Director
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Kira MURATOVAKira MURATOVA
Kira MURATOVA studied at the Moscow Film School and became a director at the Odessa Film Studio where she made her feature debut Our Honest Bread in 1964. As a result of her unorthodox style, most of her subsequent films faced difficulties with Soviet censorship. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she quickly won renown at home and abroad, not only with her earlier work but also with her new films.
Credit
- Cast Nina RUSLANOVA, Vladimir VYSOTSKIY, Kira MURATOVA
- Screenwriter Kira MURATOVA, Leonid ZHUKHOVITSKY
- Cinematography Gennadi KARYUK
- Editor O. KHARAKOVA
- Music Oleg KARAVAICHUK, Vladimir VYSOTSKY
