The afterword

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The afterword
Original title Послесловие
Country of production USSR
original language Russian
Publishing year 1984
length 98 minutes
Rod
Director Marlen Khuziev
script Marlen Khuziev
production Mosfilm
music Johann Sebastian Bach
Ludwig van Beethoven
camera Leonid Kalashnikov
cut Lyudmila Sviridenko
occupation

The Epilogue (Original title: Послесловие , Posleslowije ) is a Soviet feature film directed by Marlen Khutsiev from the year 1984 based on motives of the amendment father on a visit of Yuri Pakhomov .

action

A year after the event, Vladimir Sergejewitsch Schwyrkow tells a story that begins on a Saturday evening. A telegram informs him and his wife that his father-in-law, the 75-year-old retired doctor Alexei Borisovich , wants to visit them in Moscow and also announces the appointment. This appointment is extremely unfavorable for Wladimir, as he took leave at exactly this point in order to write at the end of his doctoral thesis. His wife Lera, daughter Alexeis, is on business with a group of foreign tourists in Central Asia during this period . Over the next few days, Vladimir takes his wife to the airport on the Volga and then picks up his father-in-law from the train station. He did not recognize him immediately because they had not seen each other for six years and Alexei has changed a lot during that time. On the way to the apartment in Tushino , Alexei realizes that this barren area full of prefabricated buildings cannot be compared with the streets of his hometown, which are full of gardens with free-range geese.

On arrival at home, Vladimir quickly shows the most important things in the apartment and then goes for a walk with his dog on his own. After his return, he makes dinner for both of them, for which he has got his father-in-law a good bottle of dry red wine, while he himself prefers a vodka . You then drink several glasses, not because of the alcoholism, but only because of your health. When they talk about furnishing the home, Alexei only says that in his old age he finds a simple furnishing better, to which Vladimir replies that this is a matter for his wife. But otherwise the two are fine and in about half a year he will probably be traveling to the USA on business . Alexei also mentions that he knows little about the young people, since Lera writes far too seldom and then proudly tells how he spends his days at home. Besides, he was never particularly interested in the material side of life. Finally they go to bed, but Vladimir has to ponder the evening for a long time and realizes that they had completely forgotten the old man in their lives. He is not surprised either, because he has long since got used to the strange family of his wife and the old man, who is always just called “he”, was always a kind of “ persona non grata ”.

After two days the old man starts to get on his nerves with his hectic pace, exaggerated ecstasy and his way of pronouncing the words. The dialogues sound like a bad play. So he talks for minutes about bread as such, or about how he once met the great poet Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky on the street. He is also of the opinion that Wladimir does not enjoy his work and tells him why it is: Wladimir does not go for walks, because the tours with the dog do not count, he does not do any sport, smokes and drinks too much Coffee. There is also a lot of useless stuff standing around in his study, because he actually only needs a pencil, glue and scissors to be able to work. When Wladimir can be seen on a television program about his research trips to Africa, it is a reason for Alexei to be proud of him. The first thunderstorm of the year that followed makes him happy, as it shows the violence nature is capable of. The subsequent power outage brings Alexei to the realization that his son-in-law doesn't know any of his neighbors, although he has lived in the house for over two years. At the end of the evening, Vladimir wants to know from his father-in-law what else he can do to make him happy. They both come to the conclusion that if he went to the circus it would be a good idea. But the ticket that Vladimir got was valid for the new circus and Alexei went to the old one, which he knew from earlier, where he was not allowed in because he did not have a valid ticket. He had not thought that Moscow has two circuses today.

One evening the father-in-law comes home late. He is quiet, gentle, sighs like a child and walks around the room silently. He looks like he's about to say something, but doesn't dare. When asked if he has any problems, he replies that he is just tired and sad. He visited the places of his youth during the day and washed his underwear in the morning, even though it wasn't necessary. He then asks casually whether Vladimir has heard from Lera and the answer is that she will surely be coming soon. Now Alexei pensively tells stories from her childhood, suddenly wants to smoke a pipe even though he has never smoked in his life, holds a long monologue about it, which he ends in silence and thoughtfully and does not speak a word the whole evening. The next day the old man disappears. He never said where he was going and Vladimir didn't even notice that he was gone. With him, Vladimir's new sheepskin coat and large fur hat also disappear. The police and the accident service are informed, but have no knowledge.

Suddenly the father-in-law stands in the door of the apartment with a bottle of champagne and tells how wonderful Moscow looks in the evening. The last few days he was with his friends, they had a drink and remembered the youth, Moscow, 1925, the frost, love and belief in the future. Then both of them drink the sparkling wine they have brought with them and the father-in-law announces that he will fly home the next day. He has a lot to do there and his house must not be empty for that long, because the small library he owns is quite valuable and his daughter should inherit it one day, because now they only have a few books that give the impression as if they were just bought quickly. He also doesn't expect Lera to come home anytime soon, but the next time Lera and Wladimir will have to visit him. Since the son-in-law has an important meeting at the company at departure time the next day, he only takes Alexei to the airport and, after making sure that there are no problems there, drives on to his place of work. Half an hour later, he has already deleted it from memory. However, in the evening he has to think about the days with his father-in-law and this visit will keep him busy for a long time.

Production and publication

Coming in from the Mosfilm shot in color film had in May 1984 under the title Послесловие ( Posleslowije ) in the Soviet Union its premiere.

In the GDR it was first broadcast on December 20, 1984 under the title The visit in the second program of GDR television. On January 16, 1985, the first verifiable German theatrical performance took place in the Berlin studio film theater Kino Babylon under the title Das Nachwort .

criticism

In New Germany of January 18, 1985, p. 4 it can be read that the film depicts the encounter between two people in the style of a subtle chamber play, which also brings the viewer enjoyable intellectual gain.

HU wrote in the Neue Zeit :

“No exhausted depth. An episodically relaxed narrative style, variable and varied, not lacking in the amusing. Many shades of emotion. Two people, one location, an apparently small story - you can get by with that to make a great film. "

The lexicon of international films writes that this is a psychologically credible, sensitively staged chamber play.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 20, 1984
  2. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 16, 1984, p. 8
  3. ↑ Neue Zeit of January 31, 1985, p. 4
  4. ↑ The epilogue. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 25, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used