Gadkie lebedi (2006)

Director:

Konstantin Lopushansky

Writers:

Konstantin Lopushansky (screenplay)
Vyacheslav Rybakov (screenplay)
(more)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Philosophy | Scientist | Military | Russia | Rain

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Gregory Hlady	...	Viktor Banev (as also Grigoriy Gladiy)
Leonid Mozgovoy	...	Ayzek Golemba
Aleksey Kortnev	...	Pavel Sumak (as also Alexei Kortnev)
Rimma Sarkisyan	...	Ira Baneva
Laura Lauri	...	Diana (as Laura Pitskhelauri)
Sergey Barkovskiy	...	Gennadiy Komov (as also Sergei Barkovsky)
Dmitriy Ispolatov	...	Bora Kunitsa (as Dima Ispolatov)
Olga Samoshina	...	Lyudmila
Aleksey Ingelevich	...	Valentin Pilman (as also Aleksei Ingelevich)
Viktor Mikhaylov	...	Mokrets Zinoviy (also as Victor Mikhailov)
Viktor Dzekanovskiy	...	(also as Victor Dzekanovsky) (as Vitya Dzekanovskiy)
Vladimir Grigoryev	...	(also as Vladimir Grigoriyev) (as Volodya Grigoriev)
Vasiliy Petrov	...	(as also Vasily Petrov) (as Vasya Petrov)
Ilya Kovalev
Anastasiya Rudenko	...	(as also Anastasia Rudenko) (as Nastya Rudenko)
Evgeniy Kalchenko	...	(as also Evgeny Kalchenko) (as Zhenya Kalchenko)
Yuriy Bibisi		(as Gosha Bibisi)
Anastasiya Falileeva	...	(also as Anastasia Falileeva) (as Nastya Falilleeva)
Nikita Skvirskiy		(as also Nikita Skvirsky)
Aleksandr Khodot	...	(also as Alexander Khodot) (as Sasha Khodot)
Anna Lazurenko	...	(also as Anya Lazurenko)
Boris Birman
Sergey Russkin		(as also Sergei Russkin)
Boris Voytsekhovskiy	...	(also as Boris Voitsekhovsky)
Roman Makarenko
Aleksandr Dyuris	...	(also as Alexander Dyuris)
Dmitriy Mokeev	...	(also as Dmitry Mokeev)
Vladimir Maryanov
Pavel Yakovlev
Igor Sergeev
Dmitriy Brodskiy		(as also Dmitry Brodsky)
Boris Schwarzmann	...	(also as Boris Shvartsmann) (as Boris Shvartsman)
Igor Naftulev	...	(also as Igor Naftulyev)
Manana Gogitidze
Yuriy Orlov		(as also Yury Orlov)
Oleg Ogiy	...	(also as Oleg Ogy)
Irina Korovina
Svetlana Nemirovskaya
Boris Gurevich
Andrey Sigle		(as also Andrei Siegle)
Jacques Martell	...	(also as Zhak Martel)
Scott Tobin		(as also Skott Tobin)
Vasiliy Mikhaylov	...	(as also Vasily Mikhailov) (as Vasya Mikhaylov)
Egor Evstafev		(as also Yegor Yevstafyev)
Mariya Myasnikova	...	(as also Maria Myasnikova) (as Masha Myasnikova)
Sergey Lysov		(as also Sergei Lysov)
Andrey Losev		(as also Andrei Losev)
Fyodor Selkin	...	(also as Fedor Selkin)
Andrey Shimko		(as also Andrei Shimko)
Aleksey Ispolatov		(as also Alexei Ispolatov)
Vadim Boganov
Leonid Nitsenko
Yuriy Zaytsev		(as also Yury Zaitsev)
Dmitriy Yagnov	...	(also as Dmitry Yagnov)
Irina Osnovina
Tatyana Polonskaya
Tatyana Mishina
Lyudmila Samsonova
Sergey Kudryavtsev		(as also Sergei Kudryavtsev)
Konstantin Anisimov
Vadim Malyshev
Dmitriy Ezhov	...	(also as Dmitry Yezhov)
Yuriy Kalugin		(as also Yury Kalugin)
Aleksandr Tsybulskiy	...	(also as Alexander Tsibulsky) (as Aleksandr Tsibulskiy)
Aleksandr Pestov		(as also Alexander Pestov)
Tatyana Malyshchitskaya	...	(also as Tatyana Malyshchetskaya)
Evgeniy Bulgakov		(as also Evgeny Bulgakov)
Nikolay Karapetyan		(as also Nikolai Karapetyan)
Dmitriy Gerbachevskiy	...	(also as Dmitry Gerbachevsky)
Aleksandr Vasilyev		(as also Alexander Vasilyev)
Sergey Ramzaev	...	(also as Sergei Ramzaev)
Natalya Mokshina
Anna Arapova

Directed by
Konstantin Lopushansky

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Konstantin Lopushansky		screenplay
Vyacheslav Rybakov		screenplay
Arkadiy Strugatskiy		original book
Boris Strugatskiy		original book

Produced by
Catherine Dussart	....	co-producer
Dmitriy Gerbachevskiy	....	executive producer
Andrey Sigle	....	producer

Original Music by
Andrey Sigle

Cinematography by
Vladislav Gurtchin

Film Editing by
Maxim Holodiuk
Sergey Obukhov
Aleksandr Zaretzky

Casting by
Velentina Shkolnik

Art Direction by
Viktor Ivanov
Konstantin Pakhotin

Set Decoration by
Kirill Baranov
Andrei Butovko
Natalya Mokshina

Makeup Department
Janna Rodionova	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Anna Arapova	....	assistant unit manager
Lika Mokhova	....	production leader
Dmitry Nikitin	....	production leader
Sergey Ramzaev	....	assistant unit manager
Anna Svetlakova	....	production leader

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tamara Agajanian	....	assistant director
Anna Shein	....	assistant director
Vladimir Studennikov	....	assistant director

Art Department
Vladimir Demin	....	props
Tatiana Karklina	....	props
Alexei Karmatsky	....	props

Sound Department
Sergei Figner	....	foley artist
Leonid Gavrichenko	....	sound
Ruslan Merzliakov	....	sound
Aleksei Shulga	....	sound re-recording mixer
Maria Sobennikova	....	sound
Elena Sokolova	....	sound
Irina Sokolova	....	sound
Mariya Strugina	....	sound editor

Special Effects by
Timur Gordin	....	pyrotechnical effects
Svetlana Mikhailenko	....	scanning and recording
Oleg Nikolaev	....	special effects designer
Igor Plaksin	....	compositing & color correction

Visual Effects by
Dmitry Glukhov	....	visual effects: water effects
Evgeny Mironenko	....	digital effects artist: titles effects
Viktor Okovityy	....	digital effects artist: titles
Igor Plaksin	....	digital effects artist: titles

Stunts
Vadim Malyshev	....	stunt coordinator
Aleksandr Pestov	....	stunt coordinator
Dmitry Shulgin	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
I. Adartsevich	....	lighting technician
Nukolai Bozhko	....	grip
Alexandr Juravin	....	dolly grip
Victor Kabanov	....	lighting technician
Evgeny Kozlov	....	lighting master
Vladimir Mikhaylov	....	lighting technician
Alexei Parshin	....	still photographer
Pavel Podsvetov	....	lighting technician
Grigory Reshunov	....	grip
Alexandr Sorokin	....	grip
Alexandr Vertkov	....	grip
Alexandr Volokushkin	....	lighting technician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Olga Bakhareva	....	seamstress
Lyuda Reshetnikova	....	seamstress
Nelli Svetchina	....	seamstress (as Ninel Svechina)

Music Department
Sergei Gasanov	....	musician: sitar, sarod and bamboo-flute

Transportation Department
Oleg Borisov	....	driver
Alexandr Lebedev	....	driver
Victor Shelepov	....	driver
Denis Sherstniov	....	driver
Victor Stepanov	....	driver
Alexandr Sukachev	....	driver

Other crew
Galina Kashitsakaya	....	caterer
Liudmilla Kudriashova	....	publicist
Svetlana Schepetkova	....	accountant
Leonid Sendersky	....	sax solos
Tatiana Smirnova	....	accountant
Alexandr Soloviev	....	process trailer
Natalia Zharkova	....	caterer

Production Companies

• Pro Line
• Catherine Dussart Productions (CDP)
• Federalnoe Agentstvo po Kulture i Kinematografii
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)
• Mikhail Gorbachev Foundation
• Green Cross International

Other Companies

• Lenfilm Studio  production facilities
• Mosfilm  film processing and scanning
• Nevafilm Studios  sound post-production
• Sergey Astakhov Cameras (AST)  camera equipment provided by
• Vek Studio  post-production facilities

Also Known As:

"The Ugly Swans" - International (English title) (alternative title)

Runtime:

Russia:105 min

Country:

Russia | France

Language:

Russian | English | Polish | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Kronstadt, Leningrad Oblast, Russia

Company:

Pro Line

Challenging movie

Long ago in Soviet Union lived two brothers -- Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. They had a dream -- to live in Communism -- and as they were writers, they devised the World of Noon, the future society of people appreciating creative work the most, socially responsible and enjoying living. It occurred, it wasn't a dream about Communism, that's why the writers soon became anti-Soviet, and the dream started living its separate life, changing, infecting new generations of engineers and scientists, strangely surviving under any system...

"Ugly Swans" are not about World of Noon, but those who are able to appreciate it. So... The future intrudes into our world. Perhaps not a very happy one, because agents of it -- Aquatters -- are targeted by unknown genetic disease. Aquatters came to a provincial Russian town, set the rules they like and started to educate children. For children are our future, and changing them you make the world different. They teach rather strange things: what is hyperspace, and how to change weather, and other things, perhaps pretty important in the world of Aquatters. But top of all, they teach children to _think_.

What's the problem, you would ask? A little one. In children's dreams there's no place for us. Our world is bankrupt, our values are corrupt, our moral is false. They are ruthless... but they only want to live in _their_ world. They go ahead, not looking on us and not caring. It's not surprising that our civilization considers them a menace. We also can be ruthless, and too often we are ruthless without necessity... Writer Viktor Banev who happens to visit the town faces uneasy moral choices. Taking sides. Remaining humane when bad things happen... not little for a single person? The movie is said to be based on the 1967 novel, but paradoxically, ideas spoken out in that moth-eaten year grew only more topical today. And the world too often can't propose growing youths nothing but dull job, race for money and dumb TV shows for entertainment. Who is more miserable, children grown by Aquatters, who can't, don't want to live in our world, or we who don't feel their longing for knowledge and agree with the role of well-trained monkeys? Humanism is also a new facet unveiled in the movie. Old... and new. Whatever the theories, there are living people beyond it... Writer Banev from the 1967 novel acts because he feels contempt for the old world; writer Banev in the movie acts because he feels pain of others... he cares about people, not about worlds, and that, I hope shows that the old world is yet alive.

The last but not least, the movie isn't specifically Russian, more a tale of our civilization. And in, e.g. the United States it would be the same topical, I guess.