ZOOLOGY

Russia, 2016, 83 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Ivan I Tverdoskiy.

Zoology is a brief Russian film, winner of several awards.

It is something of an ordinary story of a woman in a Russian country town. However, it also serves as an allegory about ordinary life, differences, people’s apprehensions, the possibility for change.

Natasha is a middle-aged woman living with her superstitious mother, working for a zoo and ordering food for animals. She is something of a loner, the other women at her work mocking her, joking about her. Then she begins to feel unwell and goes to a doctor for an examination and for x-rays which prove inconclusive.

What has happened is that she has grown an extensive tail, something which does not show up on the x-rays clearly. But the doctor who interviews her is attracted to her and enables her to do further x-rays and ultrasounds.

What happens is that Natasha is attracted to the doctor, they go out together, to the seaside and tobogganing down rocks, enjoying each others company, wandering through the sewer and looking at all the animals, going dancing. Natasha also has her hair done, dons more modern clothes, lets herself go free. Her mother is puzzled, the women continue to gossip at work, she is being asked to resign from her job.

In the meantime, women are gossiping all around the town about a woman who is possessed by the devil and who has a tail, her mother of the main gossip-mongerer. Natasha goes to the priest to ask for communion and he refuses even though she is devout.

Ultimately, at the dance, people see her tail and rush from the room – and, around the town, people continually turn and avoid her.

The climax of the film is in her having to make a decision as to whether she will keep the tail and enjoy the new way of life or cut off her tail and go back to normal.