Who gave inspiration to the director of "White Sun of the Desert": Muses of Vladimir Motyl

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

On June 26, the famous director Vladimir Motyl would have turned 93, but 10 years ago he passed away. His most beloved film work among the people was the film "White Sun of the Desert". Few people know that one of the roles in it was played by the director's wife, who had to risk her health and safety more than once on the set. What role did Motyl's wife get, why after filming they parted, and who else inspired the director to create his famous film works - further in the review.

Vladimir Motyl was married three times, and two times - to the same woman. When the future director was a student at the Sverdlovsk Theater Institute, he met the actress of the local Youth Theater Lyudmila Podaruyeva, who was 5 years older than him. In his courtship, he was very persistent - he went to all her performances, gave flowers and waited at the entrance to the theater. Although he was only 18 at that time, and the actress was embarrassed by this age difference, she still did not remain indifferent to his signs of attention, and they soon got married. In this marriage, the couple had a daughter, Irina.

After graduation, Vladimir Motyl worked as a director of the Sverdlovsk Drama Theater and chief director of the Youth Theater. And at the age of 35 he shot his first film work - the film "Children of the Pamirs". One of the roles in this picture was played by the same age as Motyl, actress Raisa Kurkina. She said: "". On the set, they began an affair, and the director decided to divorce his wife.

By that time, Raisa Kurkina was already divorced and was raising her daughter alone. For both him and his chosen one, this was a second marriage. And although they lived together for only 6 years, this period was very rich and fruitful for both the director and the actress. She became a real muse for him, inspiring to create masterpieces. When in 1968 Vladimir Motyl started shooting the film "White Sun of the Desert", he knew in advance who should play the wife of the customs officer Vereshchagin Nastasya - of course, Raisa Kurkin.

She herself told about their joint work: "".

Although Raisa Kurkina was the director's wife, on the set he did not do her any favors - on the contrary, she had a harder time than other actors. Once she almost drowned - they were filming a scene where her heroine threw all Vereshchagin's weapons out of the boat. The boat had to sail far from the coast, and Kurkina did not know how to swim. The actress recalled: "".

Another time, the actress became a victim of an attack: "".

But all the efforts were not in vain - this film became a real triumph for both the actress and her husband. However, soon after the completion of work on the film, the marriage of Motyl and Kurkina fell apart. Once she came to him in Czechoslovakia, where he was on tour, and during the wash she found in her husband's pocket a letter from a woman of frank content. Then the director begged to forgive him for infidelity, and the actress gave him a second chance. But after 2 months she found out that he had not kept his promise and left him. Her first marriage also fell apart due to her husband's infidelity, and she repeatedly told her second spouse that the main value for her in marriage was loyalty. Alas, the second marriage broke up for the same reason.

Later, Raisa Kurkina did not regret her decision, despite the fact that after their divorce she was left alone and never married again. The actress said: "". But even after the breakup, the actress continued to inspire the director. He shot her in another of his films - in "The Star of Captivating Happiness" she played the role of Sophia Raevskaya.

After a divorce from Raisa Kurkina, Vladimir Motyl returned to his first wife and persuaded her to marry him a second time. She did not begin to reproach him or sort things out - she just accepted everything as it is. In the 1970s. Lyudmila left the theater stage and devoted herself entirely to her family. However, their family happiness could hardly be called cloudless - the director remained the same addicted person, and on the set he had novels. In recent years, Lyudmila Podarueva was seriously ill, and in 2008 she passed away. Only after Motyl lost the most devoted woman in his life did he regret: "".

The last muse of the director was the hotel administrator Natalya Mazhuga. They met in 2005 in St. Petersburg, where Motyl came to the shooting of his latest film "The Crimson Color of Snowfall". The film crew stayed at the hotel where Natalya worked. The director told her that she had the right type for one of the roles, and that he was ready to work with non-professionals. Natalia read the script and agreed to play a cameo role as a translator. And after that she was offered to stay in the film crew as an assistant director.

At that time, Vladimir Motyl was already 77 years old, and no one took his courtship of the young assistant seriously - except for herself. Natalia confessed: "".

They stayed together for 5 years, until the director's last days. Nobody believed in the sincerity of his young chosen one - she was accused of self-interest, of claims to inheritance. To put an end to these rumors, the director, a year after he was widowed, proposed to Natalia. She did not want to rush to the wedding, as she understood that Motyl first needed to pass the important film "The Crimson Color of Snowfall". On March 11, 2010, the premiere was to take place, after which they planned to play a wedding. But the director was not destined to carry out these plans. On February 21, he passed away.

Raisa Kurkina's partner in filming in "White Sun of the Desert" also had a difficult fate: Why the role of Vereshchagin was a real test for Pavel Luspekaev.