Video: Behind the scenes "The Cranes Are Flying": Why the only Soviet film-triumphant at the Cannes Film Festival caused the wrath of Khrushchev
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
December 28 marks the 115th anniversary of the birth of the famous Soviet director, cameraman and screenwriter Mikhail Kalatozov. On the same day, all over the world celebrate the International Day of Cinema. Probably, this coincidence is not surprising - Kalatozov became not only a classic of Soviet cinema, but also went down in the history of world cinema: 60 years ago, his film "The Cranes Are Flying" won the main prize of the Cannes Film Festival, and Kalatozov became the only Soviet director to own the Golden Palm branches. But the most interesting thing remained behind the scenes.
The script was based on Viktor Rozov's play "Forever Alive", written back in 1944. But then it was not published due to ideological reasons - the main character, who did not wait for her beloved from the front and married his brother, did not correspond to the image of the faithful and a devoted Soviet woman. When, 13 years later, the play was finally published, Mikhail Kalatozov immediately tracked down the author and invited him to write a screenplay together. They added a few more episodes there - the scene of the bombing of Moscow, the heroine's rescue of a child on the bridge, the death of the main character's parents, the death of her lover and the meeting of the winners in the final, but the main storyline remained unchanged - about a couple in love, torn apart by a war, and a young girl who committed mistake and repented of it.
The fact that the film was recognized as a masterpiece of cinematography throughout the world was also a great merit of the cameraman Sergei Urusevsky - thanks to the innovative techniques he proposed (using a hand-held camera, shooting on circular rails), this picture was recognized as one of the first examples of the "Soviet new wave", the time of experiments and cameras "flying" around the site. Urusevsky said: "".
The work on the film was not easy - at first Tatyana Samoilova, who played the main role, fell seriously ill, then Alexei Batalov suffered on the set - according to the script, he had to fall into the water during a fight with a soldier who made a joke about his bride Veronica. The actor fell directly on tree trunks and branches sticking out of the water and severely injured his face. He had to put several stitches, and he even mentally said goodbye to the acting profession. Fortunately, the cuts healed quickly, and after a month Batalov was able to return to the set. And his acting career took off after that.
The image of the main character caused the most controversy among both critics and the public. Thanks to Kalatozov, Tatyana Samoilova's star lit up, but if her acting talent was not in doubt, then her appearance was atypical for the cinema of those times, especially for a film about the war - and later she was always called a "non-Soviet" actress, with an "asymmetrical and strange face ". In addition, the image she created was very contradictory and divided the audience into two camps - those who condemned her and those who sympathized with her. And Nikita Khrushchev did not hide his indignation at all, christening the main character "a woman of easy virtue", and the film itself - "ideologically unrestrained."
The Cranes Are Flying was not a classic war film - it wasn’t about heroic deeds and battles, but instead centered on a love story. Critics accused the director of weak drama and the fact that they exchanged "". One of the critics reproached the director for being "".
Fateful for the film was the accidental presence on the set of a French film enthusiast, Claude Lelouch, who came to Moscow on a tour and worked as an assistant cameraman for 2 days. Then he shot his first documentary - about the filming of "The Cranes Are Flying". Observing the work of Kalatozov and Urusevsky, he himself decided to do the same, and subsequently Claude Lelouch became one of the most famous French directors in the world. Upon returning home, he contacted the director of the Cannes Film Festival and persuaded him to include Kalatozov's film in the festival program. As a result, "The Cranes Are Flying" received the main prize - the Golden Palm, the film became the leader of the French film distribution, and Tatyana Samoilova, who received a special diploma from the jury of the Cannes Film Festival, began to be called "Soviet Brigitte Bardot".
About how the audience in Cannes reacted to this film, Tatiana Samoilova told: "". Pablo Picasso called the film a genius, and predicted a stellar future for Tatyana Samoilova.
At the same time in the Soviet press about the triumph of "The Cranes Are Flying" published only one small note, which did not mention the names of the director, screenwriter and cameraman, and the victory at the film festival was reported very restrainedly: "".
In France, the film became the leader of the film distribution - then it was watched by 5 million 300 thousand viewers, and in the USSR it took only 10th place at the box office. It was only appreciated years later. Today "The Cranes Are Flying" is called one of the symbols of Soviet cinema and one of the best films in Russian cinema. His episodes are covered in all textbooks on the art of cinema.
After the triumph in Cannes, the Soviet actress was invited to act in Hollywood, but she was not given such an opportunity: What Tatyana Samoilova had to pay for her popularity.
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