Info
Logline
An artistically outstanding, murderously surreal fever dream of a sick Russia.
A flu-ridden family in post-Soviet Russia goes about its daily routine, complete with its extraordinary secrets. The husband turns everyday moments into wonderfully strange Japanese comics. His estranged wife prefers things a bit more destructive and develops a penchant for killing unpleasant people. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when Kirill Serebrennikov uses anarchistic fantasy to deconstruct his socially and morally bankrupt homeland. In the process, the critical director blurs not only the boundaries between reality and fantasy; the past and the present also merge when characters and the audience alike lose themselves in intoxicating imagery.
Meet the director
%20Ira%20Polyarnaya.jpg?width=480&quality=75)
Kirill Serebrennikov
Kirill Serebrennikov is a Russian theater, opera, and film director. He has staged productions at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, among others. He has also staged productions in German-speaking countries, including at the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, and the Komische Oper in Berlin. His films have been shown at prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Venice, and Karlovy Vary. THE STUDENT (2016) premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section and later received the François Chalais Prize. LETO (2018) was screened in competition at Cannes and made the “Cahiers du Cinema” list of the best films of the year. Kirill Serebrennikov was artistic director of the Gogol Center in Moscow from 2012 to 2021. Long under house arrest in his home country, he now lives in exile in Berlin.