A GENTLE CREATURE
Russia, Ukraine, 2017, 143 minutes, Colour.
Vasilina Makovtseva.
Directed by Sergey Loznitsa.
A Gentle Creature was very successful in festival screenings, including the main competition in Cannes 2017.
The gentle creature of the title is a woman whose husband has been sentenced to prison for murder. She lives alone in a remote village and is surprised when a parcel she has sent to the prison is returned to her. She goes to the post office to make enquiries and this is beginning of a number of bureaucratic impositions on her, a gentle creature who is the victim of society.
The picture of human nature in this film is very harsh. The various personnel at the post office could not care less and are rude in their manner. When she goes to the prison, she is treated very badly by the various officers who reject her petition, keep urging her to return, but given no information.
She studies in the town, hoping to get more news of her husband, whether he is there on not, and is meant by some friendly people but also by local thugs who want to exploit her.
On the one hand, this is a grim picture of Russian society. On the other hand, it is a portrait of a good woman, put upon, suffering all kinds of indignities, but keeping her own integrity.
1. Ukrainian director, Russian-Ukrainian? collaboration? Perspectives?
2. The title, the focus on the woman? Audiences identifying with her?
3. The Russian locations, the village, the house, the streets, the post office? The train? The bigger town, the prison, the headquarters of the thugs, the streets, the social worker? The musical score?
4. The realism of the film? Audiences identifying with the central character? Emotional identification, the puzzle about her situation, the returned parcel, her husband, her quest? Reaction to the way she was treated by officials, the post office, the prison the effect on her, audience response to her? The significance?
5. The situation, the woman, her age, her husband, in prison, explaining that he committed murder? Sending him parcels? The parcel returned? Her going to the post office, the treatment, the refusal to take the parcel, taking it home? Beginning a quest?
6. The significance of bureaucratic treatment of individuals, the harshness, quarrelsome people, complainants? The post office, the railway, the prison officials? Harsh lines?
7. On the train, travelling, listening to the people discuss the situation, socially, politically?
8. Going to the prison, talking with the officials, lining up, the refusal to give her any satisfaction? Staying in the town? The various officers, the connections, motivations? The tangle with the gangsters, the group, wanting to exploit her? The different types in the town, friendly, exploitative? Her attempts to deliver the parcel? Carrying the parcel, opening the contents? The mystery of the location of her husband? No answers?
9. The buildup to the dream sequences, the ending of the film, the effect, the experience of nightmare – in comparison with the waking experiences in real life?
10. The film as a harsh allegory of life in Russia?
