The Kurschatten (1984)

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Movie
German title The course shadow
Original title Любовь и голуби
Country of production USSR
original language Russian
Publishing year 1984
length 107 minutes
Rod
Director Vladimir Menshov
script Vladimir Gurkin
production Mosfilm
music Valentin Levaschow
camera Yuri Nevsky
cut R. Pesetskaya
occupation

The Kurschatten ( Russian Любовь и голуби Lyubow i golubi ) is a Soviet feature film directed by Vladimir Menshov from 1984 .

action

Wassili, also known as Wassja, is a pigeon fancier who only lives for his animals. So it is not difficult for him to take 30 rubles for the purchase of new pigeons from his wife's housekeeping, and he is caught. Since his wife Nadeschda, who is also called Nadja, does not like the pigeons, there is a lot of trouble in the house. Even persuading her daughter Olja, who knew about the purchase, doesn't help. While Nadja goes back to work in a shop, the older daughter Lyudka prepares food for her father and brother Ljonka. Lyudka is visiting home because she has left her husband in the city. Now Uncle Mitja comes to dinner, who secretly wants to drink schnapps with the family, which his wife suspects, which is why she arrives a short time later. In the rush, Uncle Mitja hides the bottle in a water container, but it breaks, so that the schnapps runs out of the tap and his wife Shura, whom he calls Sanja, discovers the hiding place. But Uncle Mitja does much worse things for alcohol. One day he tells that his wife has died and is now being laid out at home because the morgue is already overcrowded. Out of sheer pity, Nadja gives him a bottle of schnapps to drink, which he has almost empty when Sanja comes around the corner alive. He quickly excuses himself that he was only telling his last nightmare.

Vasili has had an accident while repairing a winch , because of which he has to go to a hospital. After his release, he was prescribed a cure in the south of the Soviet Union . Here he meets a colleague from the HR department while swimming in the sea. At first, Raissa, as the colleague is called, is upset that she has to fly 1000 kilometers to meet a friend there, but then the two get closer in conversation. In the course of time and after a visit to the bar, with a lot of alcohol, Raissa succeeds in winning over the somewhat clumsy Wassja. But he remembers that he promised to write home a letter that the mother reads aloud to the children at home. But suddenly there is a new address in a different font, which begins with love Nadja . Since Nadja cannot read this writing, Lyudka now takes over the task. In this part of the letter Raissa writes that she and Wassja are now a couple, which can no longer leave each other and she thanks Nadezhda for her husband. Then Vasily writes again and emphasizes that Raissa is a wonderful woman and that he therefore has to say goodbye to Nadja. The mother is very sad and angry about the behavior of her husband and wants to cut off the heads of his pigeons in revenge. But Ljonka thinks that the pigeons can't help it and that he'd rather kill his father for it.

In the middle of this conversation, a strange woman bursts into the room. The children immediately notice who that is, only Nadja pours out her heart in the hope that she will be understood. After a long time she realizes that this is Raissa, who wants to encourage understanding for her actions. That's reason enough for Nadja to beat this woman out of the apartment and even pull out a few hairs in the process. Back in her apartment, Wassja first feels her frustration by treating him like a little boy. But he is allowed to prepare something to eat that consists only of fruit and vegetables, but is completely without salt. No consideration is given to the fact that Vasya is hungry. At the table, Raissa admits that she was with his family, but that she did not understand their love there. She also says that she was almost killed but his children watched without helping her. She wanted clarification, but now Vasily has to decide for herself. He won't be told twice, packs his suitcase and wants to go. Raissa tries to hold him because she is afraid of being alone again. Only when he makes it clear to her that their relationship originally arose when they were drunk does she let him go after several slaps.

Nadeschda is not doing well at all, she has been lying motionless in bed for two days and has not said a word. As soon as she is picked up there by her family, she begins to curse everyone present and she curses at the father who has run away. Only when Lyudka wants to leave because of the excitement do Tanta Shura, Nadja and the two sisters get together again and cry each other out. But when Uncle Mitja makes a comment that it looks like a flood, the four women go up against him together. He can only flee and on the way out of the house, Vasily meets him and his persecutors. Of course he is greeted with a lot of shouting, hatred and malice, and his son attacks him with a hatchet. He has no choice but to leave the property again. When Nadja is alone with Aunt Shura, she asks her to tell Wassja that he should wait for her at the old ferry. He waits several days for the remains of the sunken boat until Nadja appears, who has made herself pretty. Like a young lover, Wassja woos his wife, who is also very happy. He admits that he is very dirty without her and that he even wants to do without his beloved pigeons in the future, the main thing is that she forgives him for his stupidity. The day ends in a big hug. From now on Nadja comes every day and provides Vasja with warm food and other things that he needs. They meet in secret, because nobody should notice anything about it. Nadja now thinks that it was good with his affair, because now she knows again how much she loves him, and Wassja has also rediscovered his love for her. She also reveals to him that she has already been two months pregnant, because that was the first time she visited him on the old ferry. Now they decide to live together again in the house. It turns out all the secrecy was in vain because everyone caught it, as did the pregnancy.

Production and publication

The film, shot in color by Mosfilm , Group Second Artistic Association , premiered in September 1984 under the title Любовь и голуби in the Soviet Union and recorded over 44 million viewers there.

In the GDR , the first performance took place on February 7, 1985 under the title Love and Doves on the 2nd program of the GDR television . Further performances on television took place under the cinema title Der Kurschatten . The first screening took place in the cinema as part of the XIV Festival of Soviet Film in the GDR under the title Der Kurschatten on October 25, 1985 at the Berlin Kino International .

criticism

Ursula Meves wrote in Neues Deutschland :

"'Der Kurschatten' - that is an all-round successful comedy - and in addition - in the masterful control of burlesque, comic and tragic film material - a discovery."

The lexicon of international films writes that this is a triangular comedy with brilliant acting and many ironic nuances.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 7, 1985, p. 8
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 24, 1985, p. 10
  3. ↑ Neues Deutschland, October 26, 1985, p. 4
  4. ↑ The Kurschatten. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 23, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used