A brief history of the origin of Soviet cinema

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

We continue our guide to the history of Russian cinema. This time we analyze the second half of the Soviet era: from the thaw and the “new wave” to cooperative cinema and necrorealism.

Last time we examined the origin of domestic cinema, how the revolution, war and politics affected it, recalled the main aesthetic discoveries and technical innovations of that time. In this article, we turn to the period of the Khrushchev thaw and the difficult 1990s.

1950-1960s

The death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953 became a turning point in the history and life of the entire USSR and, of course, was reflected in the cinema. As part of the change in political course, the cultural management system was reorganized almost immediately. Among other things, the Ministry of Cinematography was liquidated, and the cinema was transferred to departments under the Ministry of Culture. An important consequence of this was the relative weakening of state control.

The next event that consolidated the course towards liberalization, softening censorship and expanding the framework of creative freedom was the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February 1956, where the personality cult of Stalin was criticized. During this period, meetings of officials with filmmakers became a special way of interaction between the state and cinema.

The largest and most significant meetings were at the Reception House on the Lenin Hills in Moscow in 1962 and in the Sverdlovsk Hall of the Kremlin in 1963. At the last event, creative figures managed to defend the need to create a Union of Cinematographers (it was established two years later). At the same time, it was decided to transfer cinematography to the jurisdiction of the State Cinema, which in fact meant the return of more careful control of cinematography. The State Film Agency will oversee the development of cinema in the country until the end of the existence of the USSR.

Domestic cinema of the mid-1950s - late 1960s is the cinema of the thaw. Soviet cinematography during these years is actively renewing itself, discovering new themes and technical possibilities. In many ways, this process is based on polemics with the artistic attitudes of Stalin's cinema.

The authors move away from "conflict-free", "landrine" and "varnishing of reality" to more realistic or more poetic cinematography. At the same time, Soviet directors are greatly influenced by both foreign cinema - Italian neorealism, the Polish school, the French "new wave" - and domestic, - the revolutionary avant-garde of the 1920s

Cinematography is becoming more humanistic. The main screen character of the era is a “common man” who, moreover, is getting much younger in comparison with the heroes of the previous era. The authors turn to his personality, make him psychologically brighter, more interesting and more diverse. Next, the screen model of society changes. If earlier the central relationship was "the leader - the people", now it is the family.

The leading genre is a modern drama that depicts the everyday life of ordinary people. The genre allows one to reveal current conflicts and come to the assertion of universal human values, show the realities of life and poeticize it. Typical films: "Spring on Zarechnaya Street", "Height", "When the trees were big", "Nine days in one year", "Such a guy lives."

The influence of the documentary approach is noticeable in such films as "Others' Children", "Short Meetings", "Wings", "The Story of Asya Klyachina, Who Loved, But Did Not Marry." In some paintings, the authors create a kind of portrait of the era and a portrait of a generation. For example, in "I walk around Moscow", "Love", "Tenderness", "Three days of Viktor Chernyshov." The works of Marlen Khutsiev: "I am 20 years old" ("Ilyich's Outpost") and "July rain" become the symbols of the thaw (its heyday and sunset, respectively).

The updated Soviet comedy is mainly based on the modern theme of everyday life. Leonid Gaidai works in the eccentric direction of the genre: "Operation" Y "and other adventures of Shurik," Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures "," The Diamond Hand ". Eldar Ryazanov creates life-affirming comedies: "Carnival Night", "Beware of the Car", "Zigzag of Fortune". Comedy by Georgy Danelia - sad: "Seryozha", "Thirty three". It is worth noting the satirical comedy by Elem Klimov ("Welcome, or No Unauthorized Entry", "The Adventures of the Dentist") and the musical comedy by Rolan Bykov ("Aibolit-66"), as well as "Maxim Perepelitsa", "Unyielding", "Girls" …

Another significant genre of the era is war drama. From the epics, conventions and schematism of Stalin's war films, the authors move on to the drama of individual destinies. A new, tragic, image of war and an anti-war message are created in such films as "The Cranes Are Flying", "The House I Live in", "The Fate of a Man", "Ballad of a Soldier", "Peace to the Incoming", "Ivan's Childhood", " Living and Dead "," Father of a Soldier ".

The war and the phenomenon of Nazism are comprehended in the large-scale documentary film "Ordinary Fascism". In the mainstream of humanization, a rethinking of the historical and revolutionary themes important for Soviet cinema is taking place: "Pavel Korchagin", "Forty-first", "Communist", "First Teacher", "There is no ford in the fire", "Two comrades served."

Classical literature is once again becoming a powerful source of inspiration for filmmakers. A number of epic works by Russian and foreign authors are transferred to the screen: The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace; Othello, Don Quixote, Hamlet.

A generational change takes place - a generation of young filmmakers, front-line soldiers and "children of war" comes: Grigory Chukhrai, Sergey Bondarchuk, Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov, Andrey Tarkovsky, Vasily Shukshin, Marlen Khutsiev, Gleb Panfilov, Andrey Konchalovsky, Larisa Shepitko, Elem Klimov, Alexander Mitta, Andrey Smirnov, Gennady Shpalikov, Sergey Parajanov, Tengiz Abuladze and many others.

However, veterans of Soviet cinema also make their best and most significant films for the era: Mikhail Romm, Mikhail Kalatozov, Yuliy Raizman, Iosif Kheifits, Alexander Zakhri, Grigory Kozintsev, Sergei Gerasimvo, Ivan Pyriev and others

The faces of Soviet cinema are also changing. A new generation of actors is coming: Nikolai Rybnikov, Nadezhda Rumyantseva, Alexei Batalov, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Andrey Mironov, Evgeny Evstigneev, Tatyana Samoilova, Vasily Lanovoy, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Tatyana Mordyukova, Evgeny Urbansky, Alexander Demyanakhaven Oleg Efremov, Tatyana Doronina, Oleg Tabakov, Evgeny Leonov, Stanislav Lyubshin, Vasily Shukshin, Yuri Nikulin, Mikhail Kononov, Anatoly Solonitsyn, Inna Churikova, Nikita Mikhalkov and many others.

If the late Stalinist cinema was extremely academic, excluding the manifestation of an individual author's style, now the authors are becoming freer in their means of expression. The cinema language of paintings is enriched by the proliferation of techniques such as hand-held and subjective cameras, foreshortening, internal monologue, double exposure, torn editing, and so on.

Operator Sergei Urusevsky reaches special heights in the field of visual expressiveness ("The Cranes Are Flying", "Unsent Letter", "I am Cuba"). It is also worth noting that the early thaw cinema was predominantly in color, but since the second half of the 1950s, color is rapidly disappearing, and the cinema of the 1960s is again mainly black and white. This was due to economic considerations, the unimportant quality of the domestic color film, as well as the gravitation towards documentary, which was associated with b / w.

A number of pictures, remarkable in terms of special effects, were created. An interesting figure in this regard is Pavel Klushantsev, who combined popular science cinema with space science fiction: The Road to the Stars, Planet of Storms. Also, in terms of special effects, it is worth noting such films as "Amphibian Man" and "Viy".

A peculiar direction of Soviet cinema is pictorial and poetic, inclined towards symbolizing reality. It is curious that such pictures often rely on legends and ritual and ritual performance: "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors", "The Color of Pomegranate", "Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", "Stone Cross", "Prayer".

The volume of film production is increasing many times over. So, if in 1951 (the year of the "small picture" period) nine films were shot, then by the 1960s the average number of domestic films produced per year was within 120-150. Cinema is expanding.

Despite liberalization, filmmakers continue to face censorship restrictions, and since 1965, the "shelf" of banned films has been replenished again. The finished paintings "Tight Knot", "The Groom from the Other World", "Ilyich's Outpost" have undergone significant censorship edits. Among the first forbidden paintings - "A Spring for the Thirsty", "Bad Joke", "Long Farewell", "Commissar", "Pervorossians", "The Beginning of an Unknown Age", "Andrei Rublev".

The renewed Soviet cinematography is gaining worldwide recognition. The Cranes Are Flying in 1958 were awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival (the only victory for Russian cinema in Cannes), and Ivan's Childhood in 1962 was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

1970s-first half of 1980s

The period from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s is rather ambiguous for Soviet cinema. On the one hand, it was at this time that a significant proportion of the films considered to be the "golden fund" of Russian cinema were filmed. On the other hand, during this period, crisis phenomena gradually increased. Cinema attendance fell, the pressure of the censorship system was often excessive, and artistic quality gradually deteriorated, which is why leading filmmakers even identified the problem in the early 1980s - the dominance of so-called "gray films". Probably the most successful characterization of the period is "the heyday of stagnation."

The genre system remains roughly the same as in the 1960s. But the individual signatures and styles of directors are becoming more obvious. The most significant and original author in this context is Andrei Tarkovsky, who shot Solaris, Mirror, Stalker and Nostalgia during this period. His paintings stand out for their special approach to working with time, the complexity of the structure, metaphorical imagery and philosophical depth.

Alexey German explores the complex moments of history, resorting to meticulous reconstruction and maximum immersion into the events being filmed: "Checking on the roads", "Twenty days without war", "My friend Ivan Lapshin". Due to the heightened attention to the realities of life and the originality of the film language, Herman becomes one of the most banned Soviet directors.

Elem Klimov creates a number of diverse paintings, united by an expressive pictorial series, black humor, the theme of moral search, a historical turning point and the approaching apocalypse: "Agony", "Farewell", "Come and See".

In the field of retro (with a touch of grotesque and postmodernism) Nikita Mikhalkov works, preferring to rely on history or a solid literary basis: "One of our own among strangers, a stranger among our own", "Slave of Love", "Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano", "Five Evenings", "A few days from the life of I. I. Oblomov."

Vasily Shukshin ("Stove Benches", "Kalina Krasnaya"), Andrey Smirnov ("Belorussky Station", "Autumn"), Andrey Konchalovsky ("Romance of Lovers", "Siberiade"), Gleb Panfilov ("Beginning", "I ask for words", "Subject"), Vadim Abdrashitov ("Hunting for foxes", "The train stopped"), Roman Balayan ("Flights in dreams and in reality"), Sergei Mikaelyan ("Prize", "In love voluntarily”), Vladimir Menshov (“Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”), Sergei Soloviev (“One Hundred Days After Childhood”), Rolan Bykov (“Scarecrow”), Dinara Asanova (“The Woodpecker Doesn't Have a Headache”).

"Holiday Comedy" is finally replaced by satire and tragicomedy parable. Comedians Leonid Gaidai (12 Chairs, Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession, Sportloto-82), Eldar Ryazanov (Old Robbers, The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!), Office Romance "," Garage "), Georgy Danelia (" Afonya "," Autumn Marathon "," Tears were Falling ")

Among the new comedians: Vladimir Menshov (Love and Doves), Mark Zakharov (An Ordinary Miracle, The Same Munchausen), Viktor Titov (Hello, I'm your aunt!). The names of the latter are associated with the rise of the television film format.

The military theme turns out to be extremely fruitful for paintings of a tragic nature. Alexey German removes "Check on the roads" and "Twenty days without a war", Leonid Bykov - "Only" old men "and" Aty-baty, soldiers were walking … ", Sergei Bondarchuk -" They fought for the Motherland ", Larisa Shepitko - "Ascent".

“Come and See” by Elem Klimova puts a kind of end to the disclosure of the tragic potential of the topic. At the same time, the state actively supports schematic war epics, such as Yuri Ozerov's large-scale multi-part "Liberation".

The literary classics remain the basis for the experiment. Unusual film adaptations of great writers are being made by Andrei Konchalovsky ("Noble Nest", "Uncle Vanya"), Sergei Soloviev ("Yegor Bulychev and Others," "The Stationmaster"), Lev Kulidzhanov ("Crime and Punishment").

Some directors specialize in genre cinematography: Alexander Mitta, Boris Yashin, Tatiana Lioznova, Sergei Mikaelyan. The main Soviet blockbusters are being created - spectacular films of special staging complexity, which are very popular with viewers. Among them are "Pirates of the XX century" and "Crew".

Attempts are being made to create alternative models of filmmaking. For example, an Experimental Creative Association headed by Grigory Chukhrai was organized at Mosfilm. It was based on the principle of self-sufficiency. The result of the decade (1965-1976) of the work of the association was the hit paintings "White Sun of the Desert", "Slave of Love", "Tabor Goes to Heaven", "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession", "12 Chairs", "Sannikov Land" and others.

Among the new stars of the Soviet screen in these years one can name Oleg Yankovsky, Alexander Abdulov, Oleg Dal, Irina Muravyova, Leonid Kuravlev, Donatas Banionis, Anatoly Kuznetsov, Margarita Terekhova, Irina Kupchenko, Marina Neyelova, Yuri Bogatyrev, Oleg Basiuilashvili, Natalia Kaidanovsky, Leonid Filatov and others

The period was marked by a number of major victories of Soviet cinema at the world level. In 1977 at the Berlin Film Festival Larisa Shepitko receives the Golden Bear with Ascent. From 1969 to 1985, Soviet cinema was among the Oscar nominees nine times and won three times: War and Peace, Derza Uzala and Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears.

With regard to the fate of cinema and a number of filmmakers, the state maintains a policy of petty tutelage and arbitrariness. Conflicts sometimes take on very extreme forms. For example, Sergei Parajanov goes to prison, and Kira Muratova is banned from her profession. Mikhail Kalik, Boris Frumin, Slava Tsukerman, Mikhail Bogin, Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrei Tarkovsky find themselves forced to emigrate.

At the beginning of the period, the “shelf” was replenished quite actively (the peak was in 1968, when ten films were banned at once). Among the prohibited paintings, one can note "Intervention", "Madness", "The Color of a Pomegranate", "Checking on the Roads", "Ivanov Boat", "Errors of Youth", "The Lonely Voice of a Man", "Theme", "Forest", "My friend Ivan Lapshin "," Mournful insensibility "," Repentance ".

Gradually, the number of banned films became smaller, as pre-censorship at the script level worked more and more effectively.

Second half of the 1980s

Once again, a new page in the history of Russian cinema was launched by political processes. A year after Mikhail Gorbachev announced perestroika in May 1986, the 5th Congress of the Union of Cinematographers was held, at which the bureaucratic centralization of film production, ideological control over creativity and other characteristic Soviet excesses were sharply criticized. After that, the process of denationalization of cinema was launched, including in 1989 private film production and film distribution were allowed.

A short period of "multi-picture" begins (1990 becomes the peak year in terms of the number of films shot - 300), which was rich and crisis at the same time. In parallel with the breaking down of censorship restrictions and creative freedom, cinema is breaking away from the viewer, focusing unnecessarily on internal tasks, sharply politicizing and concentrating on reflecting the depressive sides of the past and present. In addition, there is an influx of low-skilled personnel (for example, in cooperative cinema), which leads to a decrease in artistic and technical quality.

Pictures of modern subjects paint the image of a "troubled" time, revealing the theme of loss, personal dramas and are clearly created with a pessimistic attitude. In extreme forms, this kind of cinematography is called "chernukha". The main characters are “humiliated and insulted”: outsiders, homeless people, drug addicts, prostitutes and so on. Iconic tapes of this kind: "Little Faith", "Tragedy in Rock Style", "Doll", "Glass Labyrinth", "Needle", "Asthenic Syndrome", "Satan".

A special place is occupied by the theme of the Afghan war: "Leg", "Afghan break". In parallel, there is an "explosion" of acute social documentary, expressing the crisis tendencies of the social state: "High Court", "Is it easy to be young?"

In a tragicomedy vein, the modern theme is solved in the films Courier, Forgotten Melody for Flute, Promised Heaven, Intergirl, Taxi Blues. In general, in the comedy genre, the share of eccentricity is obviously increasing, which is felt in the works of Georgy Danelia ("Kin-dza-dza"), Leonid Gaidai ("Private detective, or Operation" Cooperation ""), Yuri Mamin ("Fountain", "Sideburns"), Leonid Filatov ("Children of bitches"), Alla Surikova ("The Man from the Boulevard des Capuchins").

It is mainly on comedy that cooperative cinema specializes. These films are characterized by low budget, low-grade humor and sexual motives. Director Anatoly Eyramdzhan ("Womanizer", "My Sailor") becomes the leader of the region.

The historical theme occupies a key place - the authors strive to deal with problems that were previously impossible to talk about. The topics of repression, personality cult, state crime and terror, social and domestic disorder are touched upon. These paintings include "Heart of a Dog", "Tomorrow Was the War", "Feasts of Belshazzar, or Night with Stalin", "Cold Summer of the Fifty-third …", "A Golden Cloud Slept …", "The Regicide", "Inner Circle", "Lost in Siberia", "Freeze-Die-Resurrect".

For a number of directors, the new era opens up opportunities for a bold experiment with cinematic form. Sergei Solovyov is shooting a "mrasmatic trilogy": "Assa", "Black Rose - the emblem of sadness, red rose - the emblem of love", "House under the starry sky." Sergei Ovcharov creates absurd satirical tales: "Lefty", "It". Konstantin Lopushansky ("Letters of a Dead Man"), Alexander Kaidanovsky ("The Kerosene Man's Wife") tend to the parable form. Oleg Teptsov ("Mister Designer") refers to the legacy of pre-revolutionary cinema.

The work of Alexander Sokurov ("Days of the Eclipse", "Save and Preserve", "Second Circle"), which was not built by deconstructing the generally accepted traditions of cinema, stands apart

Representatives of parallel cinema and neorealism, directors who, since the 1970s, illegally, in a guerrilla, semi-amateur way, have been filming short films of radical content (usually about violence, death and perversion) are emerging from the underground. From the underground, with the support of Alexei German and Alexander Sokurov, the authors got to the main film studios of the country: on Mosfilm they filmed "Someone Was Here" by the Aleinikov brothers, and on Lenfilm - "Knights of the Heavens" by Yevgeny Yufit and "Comrade Chkalov's Crossing the Northern pole "by Maxim Pezhemsky.

Sergei Selyanov also came out of underground cinema. Since the beginning of the 1980s, he shot on his own the film "Angel Day", which at the end of the decade received the support of "Lenfilm". In fact, it can be considered the first Soviet independent film.

And finally, we note the emergence of the film festival, which became the main show of national cinema and subsequently played a significant role in the development of Russian cinema. In 1990, Kinotavr was organized by Mark Rudinstein and Oleg Yankovsky.