Chantrapas (2010)

Nicolas is an artist, a filmmaker who merely wants to express himself and whom everyone wishes to reduce to silence. When he first starts out in Georgia, the "ideologists" hope to gag him, ... See full summary »

Director:

Otar Iosseliani

Writer:

Otar Iosseliani

Stars:

Dato Tarielachvili, Tamuna Karumidze, Fanny Gonin

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dato Tarielachvili	...	Nicolas (as Dato Tarielashvili)
Tamuna Karumidze	...	Barbara
Fanny Gonin	...	Fanny
Givi Sarchimelidze	...	Le grand-père
Pierre Étaix	...	Le producteur français
Bulle Ogier	...	Catherine
Bogdan Stupka	...	L'ambassadeur
Lasha Shevardnadze	...	Le mari de Barbara
Nino Tchkheidze	...	La grand-mère
Nika Butikashvili	...	Enfant #1
Gela Katamadze	...	Enfant #2
Ana Tarielashvili	...	Enfant #3
Achiko Imerlishvili	...	Enfant #4
Bernard Eisenschitz	...	Un producteur
Pascal Bonitzer	...	Un producteur

Storyline

Nicolas is an artist, a filmmaker who merely wants to express himself and whom everyone wishes to reduce to silence. When he first starts out in Georgia, the "ideologists" hope to gag him, concerned that his work does not follow the set rules. In the face of their determination, Nicolas leaves his homeland for France - the land of freedom and democracy. But the "state of grace" will not last long.

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Plot Keywords:

movie theater | movie producer | movie director | movie production | cinema | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Georgia's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012.

User Reviews

Artistic and scientific freedom enchained, even in so-called "free" countries

This film is about artistic freedom. In the ideal world it should be minimally bound by political, economical or other constraints hindering the creative mind. The story starts with the portrayed filmmaker stumbling on Soviet censors, who are not satisfied with his work. They decide to replace him by someone more "professional" (of course, they actually mean "flexible").

A few incidents later his new location becomes Paris, to where the filmmaker moved in hopes for more freedom to follow his own ideas. How wrong he is, though other limitations become prevailing here, strongly influenced by commercial and budgetary considerations. In other words, a heavy emphasis on the box office. Anyway, he is enchained again, though this time for different reasons.

This seems to be the story of his life. As a child he discovered his talent with a photo camera, at which time he also had to cope with disagreeing parents. The film title is a variation on the French expression: Chantre Pas, or: Cannot Sing. Freely translated "Outsider", because that is what he will be throughout his life time.

One may think that these limitations are only affecting artistic professions, like film directors, painters, writers, and so on. But the very same applies to e.g. knowledge workers, interested in advancing technology or improving quality, while their bean-counting managers only measure how planning and budget compare with actual results. Being a knowledge worker myself, I find many similarities with the "outsider" who is the main character of this movie.

About the film itself, I have one comment. Several archive pieces were shown, probably to provide for some background. I would propose to leave them out altogether, if only to reduce the 122 minutes length to something more fitting the issues covered.

All in all, the theme is very interesting and the scenario achieves much of its potential, especially by demonstrating that similar but different obstacles become manifest in two very different countries. I don't see, however, these dilemma's will appeal as much to the average film consumer. That I felt myself heavily involved in the subject, can be explained easily from my own professional background. Some evasive maneuvers were often necessary to get the results that I myself found satisfactory. Usually that went rather smoothly, so I cannot complain myself about the freedom I got. Still, the tension is always there in the background.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

France Georgia

Language:

French Georgian

Release Date:

22 September 2010 (France)

Also Known As:

Изгнаници

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$40,837

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pierre Grise Productions, Sota Cinema Group, Sanguko Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1