House of Fools (2002) Dom durakov (original title)

Director:

Andrey Konchalovskiy

Writer:

Andrey Konchalovskiy

Release Date:

6 December 2002 (Russia)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance | War

Plot:

In the midst of the Chechen War, a remote psychiatric institution is left without staff leaving the patients to fend for themselves. Based on a true story.

Plot Keywords:

Patient | Chechen War | Chechen | Soldier | Mental Institution

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Yuliya Vysotskaya	...	Zhanna
Yevgeny Mironov	...	Officer
Sultan Islamov	...	Ahmed
Stanislav Varkki	...	Ali
Elena Fomina	...	Lucy
Marina Politseymako	...	Vika
Rasmi Dzhabrailov	...	Makhmud
Vladimir Fyodorov	...	Karlusha
Vladas Bagdonas	...	Doctor
Anatoli Adoskin	...	Fucue
Gevorg Ovakimyan	...	Goga (as Georgi Ovakimyan)
Ruslan Naurbiyev	...	Chechen Commander Vakhid
Bryan Adams	...	Himself
Cecilie Thomsen	...	Lithuanian Sharpshooter
Tigranui Chakryan	...	Karapetovna
Margarita Zykova	...	Baba Vera
Jonas Baublis	...	Bibika
Anatoliy Zhuravlyov	...	Boxer
Aleksandr Seleznyov	...	Fyodor the Drunk
Magomed Zurabov	...	Afghani
Ibragim Bekov	...	Yusouff
Tamerlan Dzeitov	...	Askhab
Denis Nadtochy	...	Vityok the Male Nurse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pavel Grachev	...	Himself (archive footage)

Directed by
Andrey Konchalovskiy

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Andrey Konchalovskiy

Produced by
Felix Kleiman	....	producer
Andrey Konchalovskiy	....	producer
Sergei Khramtsov	....	co-producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Eduard Artemiev

Cinematography by
Sergey Kozlov

Film Editing by
Olga Grinshpun

Production Design by
Lyubov Skorina

Costume Design by
Svetlana Volter

Sound Department
Stepan Bogdanov	....	sound re-recording mixer
Ilya Kacherzhuk	....	sound editor
Andrei Korinsky	....	sound editor
Vladimir Oryol	....	sound
Yevgeni Terekhovsky	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Alexander Polevoy	....	visual effects supervisor
Dmitriy Tokoyakov	....	digital compositor
Ilya Vostrov	....	modelling artist

Other crew
Guy Courtecuisse	....	post-production manager
Alina Gulyaeva	....	assistant to director

Production Companies

• Bac Films
• Hachette Première
• Persona

Distributors

• Argentina Video Home (2004) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2004) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Hachette Première
• Istituto Luce
• Paramount Classics (2003) (USA) (subtitled)
• Production Center of Andrei Konchalovsky (2010) (Russia) (all media) (CIS)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2004) (Argentina) (all media)

Special Effects

• Cinemateka

Also Known As:

"Dom durakov" - Russia (original title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and nudity

Runtime:

Italy:104 min (Venice Film Festival) | USA:104 min | Argentina:104 min

Country:

Russia | France

Language:

Chechen | Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Canada:14A | France:U | USA:R | Argentina:16

Company:

Bac Films

Movie Connections:

References King of Hearts (1966)

Soundtrack:

Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman

Masterpiece!

I saw this film yesterday and I'm still under the impression. It was overwhelming. All is brilliant -- plot, acting, images, music...

Certainly, there are motifs from other films -- "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (for example, the episode when the inmate break out of the asylum), "Dancer in the Dark" (the dreams of Janna) -- but they are organically interwoven in the canvass of Konchalovsky's film.

This oeuvre, like other films by Andrei Konchalovsky, is a result of a happy amalgamation, a synthesis of Western and Russian cinema traditions, which does not happen often.

The film is profoundly artistic and at the same time realistic. This is achieved not least by a careful choice of details. For example, in the background, in the TV screen, you see Boris Yeltsin, the Russian ex-President who started this dirty war, and his corrupt Minister of Defence Pavel Grachov ("Pasha Mercedes").

The verbal language is also true to life. The personages, in particular the Russian military, use quite a few of Russian 'four-letter words', and here the use of such words is fully justified.

I saw the films in a DVD edition (Paramount Classics, 2003) and the only disappointment was the subtitles. The English translation is sometimes too inexact and leaves too much dialogue untranslated. This needs to be corrected in the subsequent edition.

Of course, the best is to see the film in Russian. But even if you do not speak Russian, try to see this film, because it is a masterpiece of a universal value, which transcends the language barriers. Watch it with an open mind.

I wish that all Russians had the chance too see 'The House of Fools'. Then, probably, their perception of the Chechen people would change for the better, and it would also bring them to a reflection about the war in the Caucasus, which is both Russia's crime and illness, and how the country could overcome it.

Thank you Mr. Konchalovsky, thank you all who made this excellent film! 10/10