Umirayushchiy lebed (1917)

A grief-stricken ballerina becomes the obsession of an increasingly unhinged artist.

Director:

Yevgeny Bauer

Writer:

Zoya Barantsevich

Stars:

Vera Karalli, Aleksandr Kheruvimov, Vitold Polonsky

Cast

Cast overview:
Vera Karalli	...	Gizella - mute dancer
Aleksandr Kheruvimov	...	Gizella's Father
Vitold Polonsky	...	Viktor Krasovsky
Andrej Gromov	...	Valeriy Glinskiy - the artist
Ivane Perestiani	...	Glinskiy's friend

Storyline

When Viktor meets Gizella one day beside the lake, he takes an interest in her and begins to call on her regularly. The one passion in the life of Gizella, who is unable to speak, is dancing. When Viktor deceives her and she finds him with another woman, she moves away and begins a career as a ballerina. Later, as she is on tour performing "The Dying Swan", the artist Glinskiy attends her performance. Glinskiy, whose own obsession is to depict death in his art, becomes fascinated by Gizella, and he is determined to use her as a model for a special project.

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Plot Keywords:

obsession | artist | ballerina | skeleton | tragic ending | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

17 January 1917 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Den döende svanen

Company Credits

Production Co:

Khanzhonkov

Technical Specs

Runtime:

49 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

User Reviews

The ghost of pre-revolution films

I am afraid Vera Karalli. After watching the second film with her participation, I was convinced of this. I did not see so sad a face from anyone of actress. And it is exactly not plaintive, like "uncle, give me kopeck" (It is Russian idiom), namely sad, mystical sad. As for me it is a clear why she was taken to the role of Gizella and even, based on film plot, clear why she with her "The Dying Swan" was image of death. In combination with face of Karalli, appropriate music and Black and White and Blue colors the episode of the prophetic sleep of Gizella was shown to me more terrible than any there "Jawes" and "Pets cemeteries". By the way, they selected actor to the role of maniac- artist ideally. Perhaps, unique persons, who pleasant to me in this history, are, certainly, Vitold Polonsky, who as always is charming and lovely, Ivan Perestiani and Alexander Kheruvimov. And nevertheless I do not like films with the ending-death (I did not see anything pre-revolutionary film where in the end nobody would die). As for me the Soviet silent movies and early sound Soviet films are somehow closer. Let it is a socialist realism, let in the ending enamored heroes march on the Red Square and sing songs about Motherland, but all it looks though and is utopia, but whether more humanly that.