Russian Euphoria in London
Euphoria (Eyforia)
Russia, 2006
Directed by Ivan Virypayev
A most unusual and innovative work that caused a stir in the festival circuit in 2006, Euphoria (Eyforia) is renowned theatre director Ivan Virypaev’s first venture into film. His debut is a poetical piece with a commonplace but highly engaging narrative told in a highly individual style, perhaps influenced from theatre, with the perennial themes of love and jealousy dealt with in a cruel and brutal way. A young man and woman - two people who were destined to be together but for all the wrong reasons – explore their irresistible attraction and suffer the inevitable redemption. Like the River Don that forms the backdrop for the film, nature takes its course as they flow downstream. Their skin exposed to the scorching sun carries them in their boat and out towards eternity.
Russian cinema shouldn't be such a new discovery for people who like films but it is highly unique, perhaps because of cultural isolation, but at times it creates something superb and also provides us with a burst of creativity. Such is the case with Euphoria which can only be inferred as something at once shocking and indescribable, wonderful and magic. The first impressions of the film are strange because of the atmosphere it creates, but this is really something special and completely new. The tension created from no dialogue but heightened emotion comes as no surprise when we find the actors, also new to the screen, learned their trade from the theatre.
Euphoria is an emotional situation and of course is related to a superficial high, usually of a medical patient when they feel good, unusually pleasant and self-satisfied. The situation is synonymous not only with mental patients but with people who enjoy drugs and alcohol. It also relates itself to celebrating in sport, whether as a participator or spectator. However, it is also something that is temporary, and finally, it is the situation before death. This explains the approach of Virypayev, a symbolic representation of the situation in Russian society. It is a film about the love between a man and a woman but an unexpected, true and ruthless love. They saw each other only once in an intoxicated state at a wedding. Their eyes met, and that was it, a fatal attraction of sorts. The instincts and the feeling, which Virypayev explores so bravely, intelligently and even impudently, live in each of us. Euphoria is an attempt to solve the mystery of an unsolved soul. The film’s achievement is that it dramatically affects the spectator in a totally different way to the thrills of mainstream films. This is simply powerful cinema in an understated form.
The cinematography by Andrei Naidenov, with his long and majestic frames on the river, is complimented by the beautiful landscape with the intimidating spirit of the steppe. Though this is the first film of Ivan Virypayev, Naidenov has photographed over 30 films. Virypayev, however, is a truly different director and one hopes this is not the only time he will cross mediums from the theatre into film. Polina Agureeva (Vera) and Mikhail Okunev (Valeri) have come into film from theatre along with Virypayev but Maxim Ushakov (Pakha) was a theatre designer and animator, something which makes his performance in Euphoria all the more remarkable.
Euphoria (Eyforia)
Russia, 2006
Directed by Ivan Virypayev
A most unusual and innovative work that caused a stir in the festival circuit in 2006, Euphoria (Eyforia) is renowned theatre director Ivan Virypaev’s first venture into film. His debut is a poetical piece with a commonplace but highly engaging narrative told in a highly individual style, perhaps influenced from theatre, with the perennial themes of love and jealousy dealt with in a cruel and brutal way. A young man and woman - two people who were destined to be together but for all the wrong reasons – explore their irresistible attraction and suffer the inevitable redemption. Like the River Don that forms the backdrop for the film, nature takes its course as they flow downstream. Their skin exposed to the scorching sun carries them in their boat and out towards eternity.
Russian cinema shouldn't be such a new discovery for people who like films but it is highly unique, perhaps because of cultural isolation, but at times it creates something superb and also provides us with a burst of creativity. Such is the case with Euphoria which can only be inferred as something at once shocking and indescribable, wonderful and magic. The first impressions of the film are strange because of the atmosphere it creates, but this is really something special and completely new. The tension created from no dialogue but heightened emotion comes as no surprise when we find the actors, also new to the screen, learned their trade from the theatre.
Euphoria is an emotional situation and of course is related to a superficial high, usually of a medical patient when they feel good, unusually pleasant and self-satisfied. The situation is synonymous not only with mental patients but with people who enjoy drugs and alcohol. It also relates itself to celebrating in sport, whether as a participator or spectator. However, it is also something that is temporary, and finally, it is the situation before death. This explains the approach of Virypayev, a symbolic representation of the situation in Russian society. It is a film about the love between a man and a woman but an unexpected, true and ruthless love. They saw each other only once in an intoxicated state at a wedding. Their eyes met, and that was it, a fatal attraction of sorts. The instincts and the feeling, which Virypayev explores so bravely, intelligently and even impudently, live in each of us. Euphoria is an attempt to solve the mystery of an unsolved soul. The film’s achievement is that it dramatically affects the spectator in a totally different way to the thrills of mainstream films. This is simply powerful cinema in an understated form.
The cinematography by Andrei Naidenov, with his long and majestic frames on the river, is complimented by the beautiful landscape with the intimidating spirit of the steppe. Though this is the first film of Ivan Virypayev, Naidenov has photographed over 30 films. Virypayev, however, is a truly different director and one hopes this is not the only time he will cross mediums from the theatre into film. Polina Agureeva (Vera) and Mikhail Okunev (Valeri) have come into film from theatre along with Virypayev but Maxim Ushakov (Pakha) was a theatre designer and animator, something which makes his performance in Euphoria all the more remarkable.
posted by Steven Yates at 5:03 PM
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