The Woman with the 5 Elephants (2009) Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten (original title)

Director:

Vadim Jendreyko

Writer:

Vadim Jendreyko (writer)

Release Date:

28 January 2010 (Germany)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

First her father ends up in one of Stalin's prison camps, then young Svetlana herself experiences the German invasion...

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Svetlana Geier	...	Herself
Anna Götte	...	Herself
Hannelore Hagen	...	Herself
Jürgen Klodt	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Johannes Geier	...	Himself (archive footage)
Fyodor Ivanovich Mikhaylov	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sofiya Nikolaevna Mikhaylova	...	Herself (archive footage)

Directed by
Vadim Jendreyko

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Vadim Jendreyko		writer

Produced by
Urs Augstburger	....	producer: SF
Marion Bornschier	....	producer: SF
Hercli Bundi	....	producer
Inge Classen	....	producer: ZDF/3Sat
Vadim Jendreyko	....	producer
Thomas Tielsch	....	producer

Original Music by
Daniel Almada
Martín Iannaccone

Cinematography by
Niels Bolbrinker
Stéphane Kuthy

Film Editing by
Gisela Castronari		(as Gisela Castronari-Jaensch)

Production Management
Thiemo Hehl	....	production manager

Sound Department
Florian Beck	....	sound mixer
Patrick Becker	....	sound mixer

Editorial Department
Guillermo J. Deisler	....	digital intermediate producer

Production Companies

• 3 Sat
• Filmtank
• Mira Film
• Schweizer Fernsehen (SF)
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Distributors

• Cinema Guild, The (2011) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Cineworx (2010) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Nour Films (2010) (France) (theatrical)
• Real Fiction (2010) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Funfilm Distribution (2012) (Canada) (all media)

Also Known As:

"Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten" - Switzerland (original title)

Runtime:

Switzerland:93 min | USA:93 min

Country:

Switzerland | Germany

Language:

German | Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:6 (f) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Company:

3 Sat

A genuine thriller

Thumbs up for 87-year-old Swetlana Geier - an astonishing woman with a hard life who never gave up.

This documentary shows Swetlana Geier, born in Ukraine in 1923, who very early started to learn German because her mother said this would be her "dowry". Her father was sent to prison by Stalin's police and came home after 18 months, health and spirit broken by torture; he died a mere six months after his release.

When the German troops arrived they were hailed as rescuers from Stalin - no-one had taken the news about concentration camps seriously. Unfortunately the Nazi soldiers rounded up most of Kiev's Jews and shot them at Babicar.

Swetlana gets a job as a translator with a German soldier, and her mother works as a maid. Because of Swetlana's exceptional intelligence and language skills she is protected by the Germans and even manages to get a German "foreigner's passport" and is allowed to move to Freiburg and study there.

She has worked as a translator and university teacher ever since, and even though she is now old and has a hunch, she still works every day, reading Dostoyevski's books and translating them. She calls them "the five elephants" because they are so heavy - difficult to understand, because you always see something new, which is a hallmark of excellent literature; and difficult to lift because the books are so big.

Throughout the film she talks about literature and translation, and this might sound very dull, but it is very exciting, thrilling and touching. She compares sewing and lace-making and other household chores to writing and translating.

With her granddaughter she returns to Kiev to visit the places where she once lived and tells the story of her life.

Her mind is still very young, and you can see her working with Ms Hagen, a friend who types her translations, and Mr Klodt who proof-reads everything and argues about every word. This shows how difficult the translation process is if you really want to show the complexity of the original text - it is not something everyone can do (even though a lot of people say so). She has re-translated "Crime and Punishment" giving it a new title, "Verbrechen und Strafe" (crime and punishment) instead of "Schuld und Sühne" - guilt and atonement, thus moving the stress from the moral to the technical level.

Even after her son has died after a work accident she does not lose her sense of humour and irony or working spirit - she will probably continue translating and enjoying literature until she drops dead. Let's hope she will still be alive and kicking for a very long time.