Vsevolod PUDOVKIN
Всеволод ПУДОВКИН
Vsevolod POUDOVKINE
USSR, 1926, 66mn 
Black and white, silent, fiction
Mother
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Мать

 

 La Mère

 Mat

 
Directed by : Vsevolod PUDOVKIN (Всеволод ПУДОВКИН)
Writing credits : Natan ZARKHI (Натан ЗАРХИ)
 
Cast
Vera BARANOVSKAYA (Вера БАРАНОВСКАЯ) ...La mère
Nikolay BATALOV (Николай БАТАЛОВ) ...Pavel
Ivan BOBROV (Иван БОБРОВ)
Aleksandr CHISTIAKOV (Александр ЧИСТЯКОВ) ...Vlassov, le père
Aleksandr GROMOV (Александр ГРОМОВ)
Ivan KOVAL-SAMBORSKY (Иван КОВАЛЬ-САМБОРСКИЙ) ...Vessovchtchikov, jeune ouvrier
Vsevolod PUDOVKIN (Всеволод ПУДОВКИН) ...Officier de police
Vladimir URALSKY (Владимир УРАЛЬСКИЙ)
Anna ZEMTSOVA (Анна ЗЕМЦОВА) ...Anna, étudiante
 
Cinematography : Anatoli GOLOVNIA (Анатолий ГОЛОВНЯ)
Music : David BLOK (Давид БЛОК), Tikhon KHRENNIKOV (Тихон ХРЕННИКОВ)
Sound : Vladimir_2 DMITRIYEV (Владимир_2 ДМИТРИЕВ)
Production : Mejrabpom-Rus (Межрабпом-Русь)
Release date in Russia : 11/10/1926
 
Sites : Allociné, IMDb, Chapaev
VOD or DVD release in France : 2019-09-01, Site

DVD with subtitles
Editor : Bach Films
Editor : Image Entertainment

Plot synopsis
Mother (Mat) was the first of Russian-filmmaker Vsevold Pudovkin's "personal epics"-films that weave spectacular historical tales while never losing sight of the individual, and individual emotions, that motivate those tales. Based on a Maxim Gorky story, Mother recreates the abortive Russian revolution of 1905. The title character, played by Vera Baranovkskaya, is the unwitting cause of the imprisonment of her political-activist son Nikolai Batalov. When her boy is killed in an escape attempt, she is awakened to the horrors of the Czarist regime, and picks up Batalov's political cudgel. She too, is killed while participating in a worker's protest. The sweep and scope of the action scenes in Mother never dwarf the human story. What sticks in the mind most vividly is the intimate scene in which Batalov, contemplating his upcoming release from prison, begins dreaming of his mother, while superimposed closeups of her face blend into lyrical shots of the Russian spring thaw. Mother was the first of Pudovkin's trilogy of Revolution-inspired silent masterpieces: the subsequent films were End of St. Petersburg and Storm over Asia.
Source : www.lib.berkeley.edu/
 

Commentaries and bibliography
Dix grands films soviétiques des années 1920 (Vidéos), Eleonora GOLDMAN, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2023
RUSSIA BEYOND : Les 5 meilleurs films muets soviétiques, reconnus comme des chefs-d’œuvre du cinéma mondial [Meilleurs films muets], Ekaterina SINELCHTCHIKOVA, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2020
10 of Harvard University’s favorite Soviet and Russian films, Alexandra GUZEVA, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2017
1926: Mother (Vsevolod Pudovkin), Cara Marisa DELEON, sensesofcinema.com, 2017
Les origines du cinéma soviétique : un regard neuf, Myriam TSIKOUNAS, Cerf, 1992
Мать, N. GLAGOLEVA, Искусство, 1975
 

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Best Soviet films according to Russia Beyond, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2023
- The Golden Age of Soviet Cinema : 1924-1930, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2023
- VOD or DVD release in France of the film:, Different cities (France), 2019
- Fondation Jérôme Seydoux. Octobre 1917, une révolution en images, Paris (France), 2017
- Le centenaire de la révolution d'octobre 1917 au cinéma Les Carmes, Orléans (France), 2017
- Institut Lumière - Centenaire de la révolution d'octobre 1917, Lyon (France), 2017
- Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Pordenone (Italy), 2013
- Retrospective Russian cinema at the "Reflet Médicis", Paris (France), 2010
- Cinémas russes à Montauban, Montauban (France), 2010
- Festival de cinéma russe au cinéma Le Méliès à Montreuil, Montreuil (France), 2009
- Tromso International Film Festival : TIFF, Tromso (Norway), 2009
- Europalia Russia 2005, Brussels (Belgium), 2005
- Russian films in the cinema Arlequin, Paris (France), 2005
- Images Russie 1908-1930 au musée d'Orsay, Paris (France), 2005

Photos and videos