Bez svideteley (1983)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Nikita Mikhalkov

Writers:

Ramiz Fataliyev (writer)
Nikita Mikhalkov (writer)

Release Date:

19 August 1983 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Irina Kupchenko
Mikhail Ulyanov

Also Known As:

Без свидетелей (Soviet Union: Russian title)
A Private Conversation
In Private (International: English title) (festival title)
Without Witness (USA)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:S

Company:

Mosfilm

Inner songs ...

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It is the story of two people who once loved each other. He thinks he still loves her, but she understands, after nine years, that she doesn't love him and that she cares about somebody else now. It is a very intense movie. The action takes place in one single afternoon, in a communist apartment, and it is focused on these two people. Actually, all the other characters are not physically present and they appear only through photos or phone calls. It is as if that flat is a place where you cannot hide from yourself. He sees in her the simple life that he could have had and the happiness that he gave up in order to climb the social ladder. When he realizes that he had lost her, he tries to prolong her unhappiness. But, after all these years of waiting and suffering, she is mature enough not to fall in his trap. She sees in him the involvement, the indecision, the hypocrisy. He wanted so much of his life, but in the end he is left with his shallow accomplishments. He asks himself whether life can be so simple and so real like the life of his ex-wife. Because it is so concentrated, the movie makes you think of the essence of life and love and about what one has to do in order not to waste one's life. This symbol of the essence of life appears in one of her lines, as 'the inner song.' She says that all that one has to do in life in order to be happy is to do everything according to one's inner song ...