Hearse (film)

An old woman, Yevgenia Andreevna ( Viya Artmane ) and her strange daughter Masha ( Irina Rozanova ) live in an old estate. One day, Masha tells her mother that some tramp appeared in the house ( Andrei Ilyin ). Attempts to expose a stranger from the yard were unsuccessful, and Evgenia Andreevna decides to hire him to work. They don’t promise money to Sasha - he agrees to repair the veranda, insert glass and put in order the neglected economy in exchange for an overnight stay and food.

Soon, a young worker discovers that there is a truly valuable thing in the house - the ZIM car in the barn. The desire to bring the old car back to life becomes an obsession for Alexander. Having looked closely at the young man, Evgenia Andreyevna, who is more than anything else concerned about the fate of her unhealthy daughter, offers Sasha a deal: he marries Masha and receives a rare car in his personal property. After much hesitation and controversy, sometimes turning into fights, Alexander agrees.

In the registry office, dressed in a white dress, Masha and the disgraced Sasha go to the ZIM. After registration, they go to a street cafe: the girl had long dreamed of ice cream. Tired of gathering and new experiences, she falls asleep right at the table. Alexander, leaving his young wife in an eatery, nervously paces along the car. Finally, he makes a decision, gets behind the wheel and drives off.

Awakened Masha does not remember the name of her fiancé, nor the events preceding her appearance in the cafe. She does not know her address, and from that moment her life begins with a white sheet.

According to Valery Todorovsky, in 1989, while in the hospital, he accidentally stumbled upon a book by Flannery O'Connor. The story “Take care of someone else's life - you will save your own” seemed to him “ideal for a debut”, since it was designed only for three actors ^[2] .

The film was shot in Yalta in difficult conditions: the local film studio was depopulated, the store shelves were empty, there was not enough gasoline. 60-year-old Viya Artmane went on foot filming ^[2] .

According to the journalist Vladimir Chernov , the producer of the tape was seriously affected by the producer Mark Rudinstein , who first gave Todorovsky money for his first picture, and then “threw it” into the film market ^[3] . Against the background of the film “ Taxi Blues ”, which was released at that time and had noisy success, “Hearse” was “somewhat lost”, however, film critics recognized the director’s debut as a “test job” ^[4] .

The reviews of film critics and journalists dated to the beginning and mid-1990s were divided. So, Vladimir Chernov (“ Spark ”) mentioned that “only business considerations and clan solidarity” made the audience who came to the premiere show of “Hearse” not to leave the hall before the final credits. The “hearse” itself was considered by the author of the publication not only as one of the characters of the tape, but also as a monument of the passing era ^[3] .

Vladimir Pritulenko (“The Art of Cinema ”) saw in the hero of Andrei Ilyin a man with a “wounding wound of social infringement”, whose old complexes, stretching from adolescence, resulted in a desire to feel like the owner of “ZIM” ^[5] .

Mikhail Brashinsky (“The Art of Cinema”), evaluating Todorovsky’s debut film against the background of his subsequent film works, noted that for the film adaptation of the classics, the director chose a conditional time in which the world “is ruled by powerful matriarchs (greetings from Herr Sigmund !)” ^[6] .

The second premiere of the film, held in 2002, was more successful than the first. "Hearse", shown at the XXIV Moscow International Film Festival as part of the program "Film debuts of the XX century. Favorites ”, was named the most impressive painting ^[7] . Later, Yan Levchenko (“ New Literary Review ”) acknowledged that the aesthetics with which Valery Todorovsky came to the cinema was already indicated in his debut film, although this work still did not reach the “genre fortress” of the “ Country of the Deaf ” ^{[4 ]} .

A separate response was given to Vija Artmane, who played in “Hearse” “almost her best cinematic role”:

It would take too many words to describe what she manages to express with her posture, gesture and gaze: the remains of her former greatness and proud rudeness; exhausted miserable power; confusion of a predator that bit a void. This old woman with a long-standing habit of commanding makes a truly tragic mistake, choosing a victim too tough

- Valeria Pikulenko ^[5]

Actor Yevgeny Matveev called the work of Vii Artmane, who had to “commit violence against herself, over her beauty”, a creative feat ^[8] .

• Valery Todorovsky - director
• Marina Sheptunova - screenwriter
• Ilya Dyomin - operator
• Vyacheslav Nazarov - composer
• Felix Rostotsky - artist
• Mark Rudinstein - producer

• Debut Film Festival (Moscow, 1990):
  • special jury prize for directing (Valery Todorovsky)
  • prize of film presses (Valery Todorovsky)
• Golden Duke Film Festival (Odessa, 1990) - Crystal Crown Prize for Best Actress (Irina Rozanova)
• “ Nika” (1990) - nomination “ Best Actress ” (Vija Artmane)
• Mannheim International Film Festival (1991) - Grand Prix

• Katafalk on the Internet Movie Database
• Film page in the Encyclopedia of Russian Cinema