The geographer who drank up the globe
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The geographer who drank up the globe |
| Original title | Geographer globus propil (Географ глобус пропил) |
| Country of production | Russia |
| original language | Russian |
| Publishing year | 2013 |
| length | 124 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alexander Veledinsky |
| script | Alexander Veledinsky, Rauf Kubayev, Valeri Todorowski |
| production | Vadim Gorjaninow, Leonid Lebedew |
| music | Alexei Subarev |
| camera | Vladimir Bashta |
The geographer who drank up the globe ( Russian Географ глобус пропил ) is a Russian feature film by the director Alexander Veledinsky from 2013 based on the novel of the same name by Alexei Ivanov . The novel is set in the 1990s, the film moves the plot to 2012.
action
The main character, Viktor Sluschkin ( Konstantin Chabensky ), an unemployed biologist with notorious money problems, is applying for a job as a teacher in Perm . There is only one vacancy as a geography teacher. For the director, geography and biology are not far apart, and so Viktor gets the job, much to the displeasure of the headmistress Rosa Borisovna ( Agrippina Steklowa ), even if he cannot adequately answer the question about who discovered the North Pole.
Not all is well in Viktor's private life. His wife Nadja ( Jelena Lyadowa ) no longer understands how she was ever able to marry Viktor. She refuses him in bed and suggests that he break up. He should get a lover, if possible without her knowledge. But there is still the little daughter Tata who needs to be looked after.
A former schoolmate of Viktor's, Budkin ( Alexander Robak ) appears in the life of the Slushkins. Nadja soon starts an affair with Budkin, who has a good job and owns a car. Slushkin cedes his wife to his friend.
For this, Wiktor casts an eye on the attractive German teacher Kira Valerewna ( Evgenija Chiriwskaja ), who, however, is initially also tinkering with Budkin. After he leaves her and prefers Nadja, Kira Walerewna tries to seduce Slushkin. Instead of accepting the offer, Slushkin prefers to get drunk and dozes off in the full bathtub.
At school, Slushkin has a hard time finding a line with the horde of unruly young people. When he gets involved in a bet and loses a card game during a school lesson, he has to keep his promise and go on an excursion with the class, river rafting, at least with those who get the appropriate grade in the exam. Slushkin can already be filled with water during the train journey. The young people then remove him from his role as “commandant”.
Despite his frequent absences due to drunkenness, Slushkin, soon referred to as "the geographer" by his students, still enjoys authority among students when it comes to planning the most difficult and dangerous rapids. To get supplies, he goes to the nearest village, where he is accompanied by the student Mascha ( Anfissa Tschernych ). On the way, Masha reveals her feelings for him. When she tells him that she cannot live without him, he contradicts her, which plunges Masha into a violent crisis. Heavy rain sets in, and the two of them arrive completely drenched and frozen in the village, which it turns out has been deserted for years. An enigmatic figure leads them into a house where a stove is burning. Even when Slushkin warms Masha with his body, he resists the temptation to take advantage of the situation.
When the two of them return to camp the next morning, they watch from a high ledge how the other excursion participants barely and in extreme danger overcome the rapids.
Back at school, the school management learns of Slushkin's misconduct during the excursion through the cell phone films made by one of the participants (and Sluschkin's rival for Mascha). Slushkin then has to sign a declaration of his voluntary resignation. In the end, his wife returns to him, and you can see Slushkin going for a walk with their daughter.
Theme of happiness
In one of the first shots you can see an installation of letters against the blurry backdrop of the Kama River in Perm: “Happiness lies behind the mountains”. Then the delivery van drives away, and now the negative particles “nje” become visible: “Happiness is not behind the mountains”. Later, a little after his wife left him, Wiktor will, somewhat surprisingly, claim that he is happy.
It also fits that he sees no reason to take revenge on Nadja when his former girlfriend Wetka ( Anna Ukolowa ), seizing the opportunity, urges him to have a lunchtime. On this occasion Sluschkin developed a private theory of modern “holiness”, which is essentially based on the dissociation of “happiness” and “love” (or “happiness in love”): holiness is when you are nobody's pledge of happiness and yourself no one is a pledge of happiness. In this theory, perfect human love takes the place of love happiness.
In a conversation with Mascha around the campfire, in which death and the fear of death are also touched upon, Sluschkin emphasizes it again: In life you have to aim to be happy.
Awards
- 2014 Russian Film Award Nika . Best film, plus four other awards for best director, best male (Chabensky) and female lead (Lyadowa) and best music
- 2013 Main Prize of the Cottbus Film Festival and the Odessa International Film Festival
- 2013 Kinotawr Film Festival in Sochi : Main Prize and Prize for Best Male Actor (Khabensky)
Individual evidence
Web links
- The Geographer Drank His Globe Away in the Internet Movie Database (English)