DAU. Natasha

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Movie
Original title DAU. Natasha (ДАУ. Наташа)
Country of production Germany , Ukraine , United Kingdom , Russian Federation
original language Russian , Ukrainian , English
Publishing year 2020
length 145 minutes
Rod
Director Ilja Chrschanowski ,
Jekaterina Oertel
script Ilja Chrschanowski,
Jekaterina Oertel
production Sergey Adonyev
camera Jürgen Juerges
cut Brand Thumim
occupation

DAU. Natasha (original title:. ДАУ Наташа) is a feature film by Ilya Chrschanowski and Jekaterina Oertel from the year 2020 . It is a decoupled film from Chrschanowski's extensive Dau project, from which a simulation of the totalitarian system under dictator Josef Stalin was created. It tells the life story of the Soviet physics Nobel Prize winner Lew Landau . The premiere of the European co-production with German participation took place on February 26, 2020 as part of the competition at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival . There is currently no cinema release in Russia, the homeland of co-director Chrschanovsky, as some scenes are considered too pornographic .

action

Natasha works with Olga in the canteen of a secret Soviet research institute. In this way, she comes into contact with employees, scientists and foreign guests of the institute. Natasha is very fond of alcohol, participates in cheerful drinking games and ponders about her lovers. After an argument with Olga, she begins an affair with the French guest Luc Bigé, whom she describes as "gentle". That calls the state secret service under the direction of Vladimir Azhippo on the scene. He tortures Natasha psychologically and sexually and forces her to give false testimony, after which she starts flirting with him.

History of origin

The Dau cycle should consist of 13 films and series with a running length of at least 700 hours. Filmmaker Ilya Chrschanowski has been working on the project since 2008. But it goes beyond the originally planned life story of Lew Landau, for which Chrschanowski used motifs from the memoirs of his widow Kora Landau-Drobantseva. It focuses on a scientific research facility that would later become a totalitarian universe. More than 400 people were involved in the shooting in Kharkiv , in northeastern Ukraine . Some employees were cut off from the real world at the location for months, under “Soviet conditions”.

The plan to implement the project in Berlin from October to November 2018 failed due to a lack of official approval. Chrschanowski wanted to remember the situation at the time of the Berlin Wall and cordon off an entire district between the State Opera Unter den Linden , the Spree and the Foreign Office for the artists and their performances. Subsequently, film excerpts from the project were shown from January to February 2019 at the Théâtre du Châtelet and Théâtre de la Ville in Paris .

As co-director and screenwriter at DAU. Natasha is managed by the make-up artist Jekaterina Oertel , who was responsible for make-up and hairstyles as well as for the editing. She is making her directorial debut in a film alongside Chrschanowski. The German Jürgen Jürges was hired as cameraman . The acting roles were filled with amateur actors.

reception

Criticism of inclusion in the competition

The Tagesspiegel took early February 2020. doubt that it is at DAU. Natasha was about a world premiere or an international premiere, which would have disqualified him for inclusion in the Berlinale competition. A film with the title Natasha, which is very similar in plot, was shown in January 2019 during the DAU art installation at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and was criticized in advance for its explicit torture scenes. "We do not understand how public institutions can join a project where women, and especially prostitutes , are subjected to violence and alcohol," said a feminist group and the deputy mayor of a Paris suburb. The German actress Hanna Schygulla , who was supposed to dub the character of Natasha at the side of Iris Berben and Barbara Sukowa , left the performance because she could not bear the sight of the woman tortured by the KGB , who was "sitting naked on a chair" was forced to "insert a bottle into the vagina ". The Berlinale denied it and stated that it was a different version. The new double top, Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek , said they had seen around 40 hours of the at least 700 hours of film material and then voted for Dau. Natasha as well as for the eight chapter and approximately six hours long documentary DAU. Degenerazija (DAU. Degeneration) , realized by Chrschanowski and Ilja Permjakow . At the official presentation of the competition at the end of January 2020, Chatrian stated that the Berlinale version also contained “clear scenes”. Both films conveyed "something of the tension in the overall story". In the official Berlinale program, DAU. Natasha later described as "a radical cinema between fiction and reality". Chrschanowski dares “a look into the abyss of the psyche” and shows “(in) human extremes - as a provocative, border-crossing narrative about the struggle for power and love, as an analysis of totalitarianism”.

The world premiere of films in other versions last took place in 2014 at the Berlinale and the Venice Film Festival with the non-competitive versions of Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac .

Movie review

The criticism was DAU. Natasha received a split: Some German media criticized the fact that the film was offered such a large stage even before the first screening.

After the first press screenings, the response was more benevolent: at Screen Daily , which accompanies the entire Berlinale competition with its film ratings, DAU points . Natasha has the fourth best value of all competition films with 2.7 out of 4 possible points.

Christian Klosz sums up the film as follows on film plus criticism : "A document of a different life that takes place in the present and the past at the same time, that is fictional and real at the same time , and whose greatest attraction is the secret that the entire DAU Project. Not a scandal, but rather an example of the dramaturgical possibilities that the medium of film still offers today, in times when you think you 've already seen everything . "

Performance ban in Russia

Two days before the criticism of the competition recording, the Tagesspiegel reported that DAU. Natasha may not be performed in Russia due to the aforementioned scene. In November 2019, a commission from the Russian Ministry of Culture refused to approve the distribution and accused the director Chrschanowski of “propagating pornography”. This is a criminal offense that can result in a prison sentence of up to two years. Four other films from the DAU project are also affected, including the documentary DAU , which is also shown at the Berlinale . Degeneratsia . Chrschanowski complained in writing to the then Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinski about the decision of the authorities in December 2019 . He feels this is “deeply unjust” and feels criminalized by the Commission. After Medinski was replaced by Olga Lyubimova , there were further discussions, but the director refused to cut his film version. Chrschanowski stated that he would take legal action against the ministry, but this could lead to years of litigation.

Awards

With DAU. Natasha Chrschanowski and Oertel competed for the first time for the Golden Bear , the main prize of the Berlinale. Cinematographer Jürgen Jürges was honored with the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic achievement . The documentary DAU, completed by Chrschanowski and Ilja Permjakow, was simultaneously shown at the festival . Degenerazija invited to the Special Gala section . In addition, there is DAU. Natasha shortlisted for the European Film Awards 2020 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d DAU. Natasha . In: berlinale.de (accessed on February 13, 2020).
  2. ↑ DAU. Natasha . In: berlinale.de (accessed on February 11, 2020).
  3. ↑ Berlinale short presentation at facebook.com (English; accessed on February 10, 2020).
  4. ↑ Фильм «ДАУ. Наташа »Ильи Хржановского включили в конкурс Берлинале. Минкульт не пустил его в прокат . In: novayagazeta.ru, January 29, 2020 (accessed February 10, 2020).
  5. ↑ a b c d Frank Herold: Another spectacle about "Dau" Berlinale film is banned in Russia . In: Der Tagesspiegel, February 6, 2020, No. 24086, p. 21.
  6. ↑ Berlinale Press Conference 2020 . In: facebook.com, January 29, 2020, 3:23 pm ff. (Accessed February 11, 2020).
  7. ↑ a b c World premiere? Paris, the Berlinale and "Dau" in the competition . In: Der Tagesspiegel, February 8, 2020, No. 24088, p. 20.
  8. ↑ a b Birgit Holzer: Excessiveness, violence and confusion . In: Berliner Zeitung , January 22, 2019, No. 18, p. 23.
  9. ↑ Berlinale Press Conference 2020 . In: facebook.com, January 29, 2020, 2:58 pm ff. (Accessed on February 11, 2020).
  10. ↑ 70th Berlinale: “We humans need magic” . In: Der Tagesspiegel, February 4, 2020, No. 24084, p. 19.
  11. ↑ Viktoria Morasch: Berlinale three years after #metoo: In the wrong film . In: The daily newspaper: taz . February 22, 2020, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed on March 1, 2020]).
  12. ↑ Ben Dalton2020-02-29T09: 29: 00 + 00: 00: Eliza Hittman's 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' finishes top of Screen's Berlin 2020 jury grid. Retrieved March 1, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Berlinale 2020: Film Tips & Highlights. In: Film plus criticism - online magazine for film & cinema. February 23, 2020, accessed on March 1, 2020 (German).
  14. ↑ The prizes of the International Jury 2020 . In: berlinale.de (accessed on March 3, 2020).
  15. ^ The competition of the 70th Berlinale and final selection of the Berlinale Special . In: berlinale.de, January 29, 2020 (accessed January 29, 2020).
  16. ↑ EFA 2020 | EFA Feature Film Selection | Part 1 . In: europeanfilmawards.eu, August 18, 2020 (accessed on August 18, 2020).