Russian soul bared at Venice film festival

06 September, 2008, 01:56

Somewhere in the north, in the middle of nowhere, the light is devoid of strength and the sun never climbs high in the sky. It’s a place where things just happen, nothing prepares them. And this is where tragedy unfolds…

“The Lake”, a film by French director Philippe Grandrieux, has had its premiere at the 65th Venice International Film Festival. And it’s not surprising that Russian actors are at the heart of this tragedy – those born in the land of Dostoevsky should at least feel if not understand it.

Grandrieux himself claims he understands the Russian mentality. He says he knew one day Russian actors would star in his films, and it finally happened in his third drama.

Grandrieux has a penchant for telling sad stories, and “The Lake” is full of melancholy and sorrow. Driven by the eternal question of Who Am I?, Alexis leads an uneasy existence in a mysterious location on the edge of the earth. As he occasionally has epileptic attacks, his sister looks after him.

“Before we started shooting I did some research on epilepsy. I read books and found reports on the internet from people who suffer from it. Besides, my nephew is epileptic. I went to see him, I looked him in the eye, and his eyes were full of fear because he never knows when the next attack is going to happen,” says Russian actor Dmitry Kubasov.

Fear and suffering determine the life of Alexis. The power of cinema enables the viewers to walk in this world of sorrow and to feel for themselves what it is like.