Repentance (1984)
"Monanieba" (original title)

The day after the funeral of Varlam Aravidze, the mayor of a small Georgian town, his corpse turns up in his son's garden and is secretly reburied. But the corpse keeps returning, and the ... See full summary »

Director:

Tengiz Abuladze

Writers:

Tengiz Abuladze, Nana Janelidze,

Stars:

Avtandil Makharadze, Iya Ninidze, Zeinab Botsvadze

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 11 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Avtandil Makharadze	...	Varlam Aravidze / Abel Aravidze
Iya Ninidze	...	Guliko
Zeinab Botsvadze	...	Ketevan Barateli
Ketevan Abuladze	...	Nino Barateli
Edisher Giorgobiani	...	Sandro Barateli
Kakhi Kavsadze	...	Mikheil Koresheli
Merab Ninidze	...	Tornike
Nino Zaqariadze	...	Elene Korisheli
Nano Ochigava	...	Ketevan as a child
Boris Tsipuria
Akaki Khidasheli
Leo Antadze	...	(as Levan Antadze)
Rezo Esadze
Mzia Makhviladze	...	(as M. Makhazadze)
Amiran Amiranashvili

Storyline

The day after the funeral of Varlam Aravidze, the mayor of a small Georgian town, his corpse turns up in his son's garden and is secretly reburied. But the corpse keeps returning, and the police eventually capture a local woman, who is accused of digging it up. She says that Varlam should never be laid to rest because he was responsible for a Stalin-like reign of terror that led to the disappearance of many of her friends...

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Plot Keywords:

son | mayor | car | dark comedy | glasnost | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

Georgia Soviet Union

Language:

Georgian Russian Italian German

Release Date:

1984 (Soviet Union)

Also Known As:

Repentance

Box Office

Gross:

$215,496 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Qartuli Pilmi, Qartuli Telepilmi, Sovexportfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

153 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Movie was ready for release in 1984, but it was banned until 1987 (premiere in Cannes).

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Goofs

After Varlam's corpse has been reburied the second time, an iron cage is placed over his grave to protect it from further intrusion. But as the perpetrator starts to exhume him for the third time, there is no cage.

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Quotes

Ketevan Barateli: Evening, spring, and shadows clumping, On the branch a bird is jumping. May a new dream me enfold.
Tornike: Moon has waned Earth to behold. I'm Tornike Aravidze, Varlam Aravidze's grandson.
Ketevan Barateli: What do you want?
Tornike: I came... I came to ask your forgiveness.
Ketevan Barateli: I'm not the G-d to give absolution.
Tornike: I fired at you. I'm a murderer.
Ketevan Barateli: Oh G-d, what a fateful star I was born under, if I have made even you, an innocent boy, a murderer? Evening, spring, and shadows clumping, On the branch a bird is jumping.
Tornike: Are you making fun...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: Episode #1.12 (2011)

User Reviews

ponderous Iron Curtain parable

It's almost impossible to appreciate the extraordinary conditions which inspired this Soviet political allegory, and which (after four years in limbo) allowed it to finally be released. But is it worth the necessary mental arithmetic required to understand it as a native Russian might? Certainly the film is a worthwhile barometer of (then) current Soviet attitudes, but most of the dramatic potential in the scenario is wasted on transparent symbolism and too many ponderous soliloquies into the nature of sin and guilt. It wants to be a satire of Josef Stalin's bloody dictatorship, but the story is little more than a simple political fantasy, set in a nameless city where the corpse of the recently deceased mayor keeps reappearing in public, prompting several flashbacks to the tyranny and oppression of his life in power. The daring comparison of Stalin to Hitler must have been heady stuff for sheltered Soviet filmgoers, just then coming to grips with glasnost, but for the rest of us the most memorable aspect of the film might be its striking poster art.