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, Yuriy Kayurov

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Zinaida Sharko	...	Yevgeniya Vasilyevna Ustinova
Oleg Vladimirsky	...	Aleksander 'Sasha' Ustinov
Yuriy Kayurov	...	Nikolay Sergeyevich
Svetlana Kabanova	...	Tatyana Kartseva
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sofya Belskaya	...	Gostya (as S. Belskaya)
Andrey Borisenko	...	(as A. Borisenko)
Lidiya Brazilskaya	...	Tonechka
Marchella Chebotarenko	...	Rabotnitsa oranzherei (as M. Chebotarenko)
Yelena Demchenko	...	(as Ye. Demchenko)
G. Devyatova
Lidiya Dranovskaya	...	Yelizaveta Andreyevna Vykhodtseva (as L. Dranovskaya)
Oleg Emtsev	...	Mim (as O. Yemtsev)
Viktor Ilchenko	...	Pavel Konstantinovich (as V. Ilchenko)
Evgeniy Kovalenko	...	Gost (as Ye. Kovalenko)
A. Maslakov

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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Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot in 1971.

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Connections

Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: A szovjet film 1953-1970 (1990)

User Reviews

It's what i call a real creation.

It's just Muratova's fourth film that i saw,but that's quite enough to realize that we deal with one of the most talented and unconventional directors in modern avant-garde.I can't help being surprised with Muratova's capability of turning a banal and ordinary situation into inadequate story.Chilling optimism of Muratova,sometimes brutal,might bring over-sensitive viewer to the condition of psychological anabios, in rare cases to soul suicide.To watch her movies voluntarily is a pure masochism.Director's gloomy look at everything that breathes and moves is emphasized with successfully fitted depressive-monotonic soundtrack executed by classic piano,which in turn knocks out of you last drops of hope and petty-bourgeois happiness. To drink,to sleep,to defecate,to propagate and to grow children-all of them are mechanical activities,instinctive functions of human being. Nevertheless there's something spiritual separating Homo-Sapiens from animals which doesn't exist in Muratova's protagonists.Such phenomenons as healthy feelings are deleted.I'd definite "Dolls-Brats playing human beings". She rips everyone,leaving only body and mechanisms which he's filled in with.Trust me,to experience that is not the most pleasant feeling.But Muratova forces you to feel it,and probably it's objective proof of her uniqueness.

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

Technical Specs

Color:

Black and White