Cheated

The young teacher Janis, who has just graduated from a pedagogical institute in Moscow, returns to his native Latgale village New Gudany and starts working at school. But during his absence, the village has changed - everywhere he sees the black cassocks of the monks. Nuns are sitting at the head of his sick mother. His girlfriend Lienite is dressed in the black robe of a novice and became "sister Anna." And childhood friend Anton became a priest .

Between school and the church - teacher Janis and Priest Anton, a subtle psychologist, the struggle begins for the painful but extremely gifted sculptor boy Andris - unrecognized at school, he finds attention to his talent in the church. At the same time, sister Anna cannot reconcile with the hypocrisy reigning in the walls of the monastery, and escapes from the monastery ...

• Astrid Kairisha - Lienite, sister Anna
• Eduards Pavuls - Janis, teacher
• Valdemars Sandbergs - Anton, priests
• Velta Line - Beate's sister
• Ekaterina Bunchuk - Mother Superior
• Alfred Visiones - Dominic priests
• Nikolai Barabanov - Bishop
• Sigrid Stungure - Maria
• Gunars Placenz - Gunar
• Jānis Grantins - teacher
• Erica Ferd - episode

One of the three full-length feature films released by the Riga Film Studio in 1961 ^[2] .

Filming was conducted in Latvia , one of the locations is Jaunpils Castle . The original working title of the film is Shadows of Sunset.

Official publications on cinematography restrained, but positively rated the film as a relative success of the director ^[3] , noting the relevance of the theme of the film. ^[four]

At the same time, a negative review was given to the film in the magazine “The Art of Cinema ” ^[5] , where the script of the film was primarily regarded as a weak, far-fetched and illogical:

In the end, entangled in attempts to defeat the priests and the monastery by the forces of Janis, the scriptwriters offer the audience a saving "find" - a false miracle and the death of little André. But can anyone be convinced by such a lifesaver? The film creates a misconception among the audience about the enemy, does not seriously expose its strengths and weaknesses, does not reveal the reasons for turning to religion these days. The clergy, with the exception of priest Anton, are given as certain symbols, and sometimes caricatures of asceticism, cunning, double-minded clergy. This contradicts the purely concrete and calm general tone of the narrative and makes the figures of the clergy conditional and implausible. Scriptwriters, as a rule, endow characters not with living concrete characters, but with functions in the general outline of the plot.

Director and cameraman work was also criticized, although there were some good points:

However, it is very difficult to talk about a single solution to the picture. The film is split into separate pieces, as if made by artists, not only gifted to different degrees, but also differently seeing the world. An attempt to make a bright, poetic decision is especially remembered in the episode of the arrival of Janis in the monastery. Here, everything - the relentless rumble of a bell behind the scenes, the echo of voices, staging scenes, editing, and all the more expressive compositions of the operator - helps to achieve emotional stress. There is no logical connection between these individual decisions. And here many reproaches should also be addressed to the operator. V. Mass cannot be denied the expressiveness of individual compositions in any way, but most of them give the impression of independent frames - photographs that are not mounted in any way with the general style of the episode, with its light and plastic characteristics as a whole- In fact, a close-up of Anna, with the cast. on her face the shadow of a window frame in the form of a cross, significant. But what an unexpected impression he makes when he suddenly crashed into the usual calm shots of the episode in Janis’s house! How inappropriate he is in a simple installation phrase: "Anna goes to the window!" The operator, in search of a spectacular solution, forgets the integrity of the cinematic narrative every now and then. Often, even the light mode makes a huge leap from frame to frame in search of great drama.

The reviewer considered the anti-religious goal of the film not achieved:

Can the film “Deceived" strike a blow to religious ideology? I think not, because he focuses not on the struggle of ideas, but on minor side conflicts. In “Deceived” one is struck by the feeling of isolation from life, isolation in oneself. As if the heroes of the story at once were in a sealed tin can. The film is deprived of life, its humor, its even small but subtle observations. You can make certain discounts on unsuccessful duplication of the film, on features of a national character, but do not explain the static nature of the episodes, or the absence of a "supporting plan" developed by the director. When creating films on an anti-religious topic, one cannot help but worry about the special persuasiveness of what is happening on the screen. The dispute with religion should go fully armed with ideological and artistic means. This time they were not in the hands of Riga filmmakers.

The lack of theme development was emphasized by other critics: ^[6]

There was a medieval monastery in the picture, where nuns languishing in captivity, torture, denunciations, imprisonment in a punishment cell, and gloomy cells, and other external attributes of the concepts of “church” and “religion”, but there was no angry exposure of the essence of religion .

But with all the shortcomings of the film, the critics praised the work of the actors. It is worth noting that three out of ten actors in the main roles are People’s Artists of the Latvian SSR and three Stalin Prize laureates, but the play of the executive main roles: Eduards Pavuls and Astrida Kairishi was especially criticized : ^{[6] [7]}

You can understand the complexity of the position of the actors involved in this film. This was the first thing that related to Pavuls. With his characteristic sense of truth, the actor felt extremely difficult in the proposed circumstances. An intelligent, intelligent, sensitive hero committed acts that did not fit in with his appearance, character, and his natural nature. The film found that Pavuls is a dangerous actor. He explodes a contrived, false situation from the inside with the logic and conviction of the character he creates.

For the 19-year-old who had just graduated from Astrida Kairishi High School, it was a debut, and immediately the main role:

The nature of the actress is close to elation, elevation of feelings. This romanticism is not abstract, as often happens. He is firmly connected with the realities of life and psychologically motivated. Her heroine, young Lienite, went to the monastery, became a novice, "sister Anna." Here, in the walls of the monastery, her drama unfolded: the girl could not come to terms with the hypocrisy that surrounded her. Her furious impulse to life with a real, complete, not poisoned lie ended in an escape from the monastery. With filigree mastery, the actress managed to convey this increase in protest, this range of feelings - from humility, self-absorption - to open rebellion, active action. It became clear that a bright performer with an interesting spiritual world, excellent external data, subtle and original came to Latvian cinema. The debut was spotted.

- Screen, 1977 ^[8]

• Gurov L. - The dispute did not take place (Art. Film "Deceived") // The Art of Cinema , 1962. No. 1 - pp. 80-83
• Pabers J. - The blow could be sharper: Lat. artist the film "Deceived" // Rigas balss - 1961 - July 28
• Semenov M. - The light of knowledge and the “lamp" of faith: Khudozh. the film "Deceived" // Science and Religion , 1962, No. 2 - pp. 92-93
• Rosite I. - Deceived // Soviet Latvia - July 1961 - July 23
• Streuga Vit - In the fight against ignorance, in the fight for man (Sci-fi movie "Deceived") // Victory (Zarasai city), January 23, 1962
• Kosenko M. - About latv. artist film “Deceive” // Voinovich atheist. - 1961. - No. 12 - p. 56-56
• Odmanis V. - Wrapped ... spectators: About the Latvian. artist the film "Deceived" // Zemgalez Communists - 1961. - July 25
• Riekst V. - At the same level: Latvian. artist the film "Deceived" // Communist - July 1961 - July 23
• Florin F. - The Deceived: On the creation of the film “Shadows of Sunset”, written by V. Belshevitz and J. Markulan at the Riga Film Studio // Soviet Screen - 1961, No. 3 - p. 18