by James Mottram
What was your inspiration for the story in the film?
For two or three years, I’ve been dreaming of getting into this territory of a relationship between a man and a woman, a complicated stage of marriage which happens after 10 or 12 years of marriage, which is like a time of crisis. I have been looking for a suitable story, and then came across this organisation which searches for missing children and that was the moment when these two stories came together, because the missing child just made the whole situation even more dramatic and triggered the whole story.
Speaking of the volunteer organisation who searched for missing children, I would say they are modern-day heroes because they sacrificed their free time and they do not get any money, they do it for the people they have never seen. They are the only positive characters in this film.
Would you call it a private story or a social issue?
I believe that this story reflects not just Russian society but our society as a whole, and it’s applicable to all countries in the world.
But does this repetitive downbeat theme somehow imply that filmmakers like you don’t see any hope for the future of our society?
I think it’s the nature of people, and people don’t change normally. I want to believe that it’s possible for a person to realise his mistakes and to change something about himself, but it is a personal work for all of us to change. But, of course, I agree with you that [in the film] in two years we see that they are in the same situation that they used to be, they are again in a complicated marriage. Who said about God and his creations… that God gave everyone his own place in his world. He said to a tiger he should be here, rock, he should be here, and to man, God said you should be seeking your own place in the world. So, we can interpret in such a way that a man is in constant search for himself and that gives hope that he can change. But human nature always drags him downward for some reason.
How is the situation in Russia for filmmaking? Is it difficult?
I think films that have some kind of propaganda in them progress very easily and get a lot of funding from the government because there are certain fears that we try to avoid speaking of, painful topics such as politics. But the industry in the whole is doing fine, its function is working as always. The last couple of years have been very difficult to the so-called author cinema because it was very hard to find government funding. I have spoken to many different directors who say it was quite difficult to obtain this money, not just for films about political views but author films in general.
There’s usually a line between the filmmakers and the government, and in order to be relaxed, you should not cross it. Have you ever considered this line?
For a film director to think about this line would be to bury himself. You have to create a movie listening to the beating of your heart because the government changes and always invents new laws. For example, there was a law in Russia established a few years ago which banned all cursing words in films. In this film, these words are necessary because they reflect how people really speak when they get emotional; they use these words. So, no, when I make a film I ignore all the center, if someone doesn’t like it, I try not to think about it.
How do you work with your actors?
For 6 or 8 months we searched for actors and we had auditions. For the auditions, I met the actors, rehearsed the key scenes in the movie. Even in the end, though I may have a different actor playing the lead role, I already had the sketch of what I want to see in this particular scene or how I want the actor to act so we do not have this theatrical rehearsal. We rehearsed already on set. Because the shooting day is 12-14 hours and for this time we make as a result 1 and a half minutes of film.
Can you say something about the windows used in your film? Can your characters see something through them that we can’t?
I don’t have any special plan about the use of windows, it’s just a source of light for me as a film director. The actor just has to come to the window and look in different directions, or the direction I want him to look at. But it has to be very precise; unless he thinks it will be better, but he must act naturally.