The Long Farewell (1971)

A single mother is confused by the changes in her teenage son, who has become distant since spending summer vacation with his father.

Director:

Kira Muratova

Writer:

Natalya Ryazantseva

Stars:

Zinaida Sharko, Oleg Vladimirsky, Tatyana Mychko

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Zinaida Sharko	...	Yevgeniya Vasilyevna
Oleg Vladimirsky	...	Ustinov
Tatyana Mychko
Yuriy Kayurov	...	Nikulin (as Yu. Kayurov)
Svetlana Kabanova
Lidiya Dranovskaya
Lidiya Brazilskaya
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Viktor Ilchenko	...	Pavel Konstantinovich

Storyline

A single woman has put all her efforts into raising her only son, Sasha. When Sasha grew up to become a teenager, he got tired of the nagging of her mother. One summer, he goes to visit his father in Novosibirsk, on the other side of the country. When he returns, his mother notices that Sasha had changed. She secretly reads a letter that Sasha received from his father and she finds out that Sasha doesn't want to live with her any longer. She cannot understand, she cannot accept. When Sasha realizes that she is suffering because of his wish to leave, he decides to stay.

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Plot Keywords:

single mother | russia | letter | f rated | translator | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian English

Release Date:

June 1987 (Poland)

Also Known As:

The Long Farewell

Company Credits

Production Co:

Odessa Film Studios, Odessa Film Studios

Technical Specs

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was made and ready to be released in 1973. But it was "shelved" was finally released in 1987.

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Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: Fight the Power: Protest in Film (2011)

User Reviews

The story of a possessive love of a mother for her only son.

It is a great film by a great director.Kira Muratova has never been given her due in the Soviet and post-Soviet Russia.In the "Long Good Bye" she depicts a seemingly banal story of a jealous and possessive mother (brilliantly acted by Zinaida Sharko) and her poor aloof and lonely son (the only cinematic role by the talented O. Vladimirsky). The story - which is nothing extraordinary in itself - grows into the wonderful and frightening analysis of alienation between genders and generations on the background of the even more frighteningly bleak and dehumanized Soviet reality.Kira Muratova shows the tiny details of everyday Soviet life,and, again , banal as they are ,they are a hair-raising horror.The dialogue is deliberately laconic and void of any sense, showing the ever-growing people's inability to communicate and understand each other.The sound track ( by another under-estimated talent, Oleg Karavaichuk)adds to the atmosphere of hopeless and meaningless existence.Of course,Sasha (the name of the protagonist),will leave his despotic ( but loving!) mother sooner or later, but where for?...