Stanislav Govorukhin's film "The End of the Beautiful Age": reviews and description

The film "The End of the Beautiful Epoch", which we will review about in this article, was released on wide screens in 2015. It was very much expected by the fans of the famous writer Sergei Dovlatov, because one of the collections of his novels formed the basis for the script for the tape, and this was the first adaptation of the writer's work.

"End of a beautiful era": criticism, the idea of creating a film

Fans of Soviet cinema can easily remember who is the man who filmed such cult Russian films as "Voroshilovsky Shooter" and "The meeting place can not be changed." Of course, this is the acknowledged master of direction - Stanislav Govorukhin. "The end of the beautiful era," reviews of which leave both professional critics and ordinary movie lovers, has become one of the last works of the great director. It is worth noting that at the time of work on the film, the master turned 80 years old, but this did not prevent him from actively engaging in directorial work and taking full participation in the filming.

The author, whose collection of short stories "Compromise" formed the basis of the script for the film, was the well-known Sergei Dovlatov. "The end of the beautiful era," reviews often refer to the comparison of the tape with previously published novels, did not become a complete adaptation of the stories.

"Compromise", taken as the basis of the film

At one time Dovlatov managed to win a crowd of ardent admirers of his talent due to the fact that he wrote in a very specific, inherent only one way. This person lived in the Soviet Union and wrote about what surrounds him: about Soviet power, ordinary people, about politics and censorship. He wrote very accurately, exactly, and in all his works there is invariable subtle humor and irony, and sometimes even sarcasm. Over time, Dovlatov was persecuted for this kind of work by the power of the Soviets, and the author was forced to emigrate to the United States. There he was quite successfully published, published in very authoritative American publications, and also conducted his own author program on the air of Radio Liberty.

The history of "Compromise"

A few years before the emigration in the biography of Dovlatov was the period when he lived in Estonia. At first, Dovlatov worked as a freelance correspondent in the editorial board of "Soviet Estonia", and in 1972 he was received by a journalist in the information department of this newspaper.

Own experience in the publication and formed the basis for writing stories collected in the "Compromise".

The collection consists of 12 stories, which are connected by a single story: they tell about the work of a talented and young writer in the editorial office of a local newspaper. Despite the fact that the book was clearly autobiographical, many, including the well-known Russian scriptwriter and writer Valery Popov, do not quite understand Dovlatov's irony and sarcasm about the editorial mores of that time. According to Popov, Sergey Donatovych's period in "Soviet Estonia" was very fruitful for the author, and in the editorial office he was respected and appreciated as a brilliant journalist and talented author.

Unusual start

The film "The End of the Beautiful Epoch", reviews of which are often lauded precisely as a specific beginning in the form of chronicles of the times of the Soviet Union, starts from a series of black-and-white documentary plots. They show the real shooting of Yuri Gagarin after his legendary flight into space. Showing the game at the grand piano genius Van Cliburn, the arrival of the charming Elizabeth Taylor in the Union. Documentary shooting accurately and realistically conveys the atmosphere in the Soviet halls, when Okudzhava and Akhmadulina read their poetry from the stage, as well as the mood of the audience when Vysotsky sang his songs . Nikita Khrushchev says on staff that all those who do not agree with the Union's policy in the Union are no longer being held, which causes full support and a flurry of emotions of all those who agree with this policy.

These moments, very clearly and realistically showing the moods that prevailed in the Union in the middle and late 60's, were successfully selected, assembled and shown at the very beginning of the film "The End of the Beautiful Age". Reviews of the film of those people who witnessed the events shown, say that such a successful decision Govorukhin gave them the opportunity to really remember their youth, youth, childhood. Viewing these frames in many causes a slight sense of nostalgia about that time.

Short story

"The End of a Beautiful Era" (reviews often criticized by a weak storyline) tells of a young writer Andrei Lentulov. His novels, as, indeed, many young authors, do not print in publications, and therefore he finds another application for his talent, which is able to feed him. The young man works as a journalist in the newspaper's editorial office, but due to his ambitions and present censorship he can not hold out for long in one place.

One day, quite by accident, he is offered to go to Tallinn and work in a local newspaper, to which Andrei agrees for a long time without hesitation. But, having moved to Estonia, he understands that local propaganda and censorship are in no way inferior to the central ones, from which he tried to leave.

The coincidences and differences between the plots of the book and the film

"The end of the beautiful era" (reviews about the film are not the most pleasant, as a rule, leave ardent admirers of Dovlatov's works) shows only a few episodes from the "Compromise". Stanislav S. shifted the events described in the collection, for several years ahead, and also quite professionally arranged his ideological emphases in the plot. Most film critics have accepted this quite normally, since each director has every right to interpret the work of the author in his own way.

"The end of the beautiful era" - Govorukhin's film, reviews of which Dovlatov's fans leave not always the warmest, most likely, disappoint those who decided to look at him solely because he was removed on the basis of "Compromise". Most of those who saw this tape say that Dovlatov himself simply disappeared from it. His subtle irony is not visible to everyone, but the protagonist, who became the prototype of the author, simply automatically pronounces the text written by the great Sergei Donatovich, and not so much observes what is happening and participates in the story as just there.

Actors and roles

The film "The End of the Beautiful Epoch", reviews on "ImhoNet" about which often boil down to the discussion of the acting in it, gathered on the set of already well-known and beloved viewers of the actors. Sergei Garmash, Dmitry Astrakhan, and Fedor Dobronravov took part in the shootings. In addition to the owners of these well-known names, the actors in the tape also play, which do not yet have a great recognizability among a wide audience. This can be considered Ivan Kolesnikov, who played the main role of Lentulov in the film "The End of the Beautiful Age." Reviews of film critics about his work are very controversial.

Impressions about the actor's performance of the main male role

On the one hand, many people note that Kolesnikov succeeded in passing successfully the dovlatov ironic restraint and cold stoicism through the screen.

But, on the other hand, many critics write about the fact that the actor still outplayed: sometimes his character seems slightly apathetic, and it seems that he is not an active participant in events, but merely observes what is happening from the side.

Evaluation of the work of Svetlana Khodchenkova

The role of Marina, the editor-in-chief of the Tallinn newspaper, went to an actress who plays Govorukhin not for the first time, Svetlana Khodchenkova. According to the plot, she and her protagonist have very strange and incomprehensible relationships that are difficult to attribute to the format of a standard service novel. The age of the heroine played by Khodchenkova makes her think about her future and the birth of children. But Lentulov is not in a hurry to offer her hands and hearts, allows herself to spend time in a sauna with a young admirer of his writing talent, but Marina herself is not in a hurry to let go.

Reviews of film critics on the actor's work Svetlana in this tape are more positive. She managed to play irreproachably the image of the original Snow Queen and show the tragedy of women's destiny with great restraint.

Sergei Garmash, as always, perfectly coped with his role, it would seem, the second plan. But in fact, his militiaman, who appeared in only a few episodes, laconically expresses one of the main ideas of the film: all the people around speak very much about the lack of freedom, but if they are given this freedom, they are unlikely to understand what to do with it .

On the game of this particular actor in the audience who watched the picture, most often there is a pleasant impression.

The film "The End of the Beautiful Epoch": reviews, reviews

The fans of Stanislav Govorukhin, for whom he is an unshakable idol in directing, waited for the release of this tape on the screen with great anticipation.

The film "The End of the Beautiful Epoch", reviews of ordinary viewers about which we will consider in detail in our article, was really very expected for them. After watching, many wrote that the movie turned out in its own way good. Despite the fact that the film shows the end of the "beautiful era", that is, the period of Soviet life that has come after the legendary thaw, he realistically demonstrates the pictures of daily drunkenness of Soviet citizens and widespread censorship, which sometimes contradicts common sense and reaches absurdity. However, the film does not cause an obvious negative.

After viewing the majority of older viewers, on the contrary, a feeling of nostalgia for the past times.

Dedicated fans of the director any of his new work is perceived as an unquestioning masterpiece. For such ardent admirers, the film of Stanislav Govorukhin, "The End of the Beautiful Epoch", could not be an exception. Reviews of him admirers of the director's talent, of course, everywhere they leave the most that neither is the best. But there are also those who do not agree with their opinion.

The film "The End of the Beautiful Era" (reviews and reviews of which are sometimes very mixed) is often criticized for distorting some real facts. On the one hand, the movie begins with a series of documentary shots that enhance the realistic effect of all that is happening on the storyline further. But on the other hand, many eyewitnesses of the events shown in the film, say that not everything in it is told to be taken for granted. Often an episode is discussed in which it was shown how the Americans first landed on the Moon, and all the Soviet media hid this fact. According to the plot of the film, in order to look at this reportage, the heroes had to catch Finnish channels. Negative reviews about this episode are left by people who remember those times. They say that in fact this information has never been hidden by Soviet power, and young people who will look at this film and perceive it for truth, because of such distortion of historical facts, may get a wrong opinion about that "beautiful era".

Is it worth it to spend time watching?

In the presence of free time, the film is still worth a look, since the "End of the Beautiful Era", reviews and reviews of professional critics about whom there are sometimes diametrically different, teaches its viewers the main thing - in spite of the fact that in life one often has to make compromises, this is not Cause to change their life principles and change their own point of view under the yoke of the circumstances.