Alexandre SOKUROV Александр СОКУРОВ Alexandre SOKOUROV   Russia / France, 2007, 90 mn  Colour, fiction

Alexandra ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ Александра    Alexandra  Aleksandra

---

---

Plot synopsis

Drama.
The elderly woman Alexandra arrives at a military base to visit her grandson, an Russian Army officer serving in Chechnya. The events of these two days ñ a long night of conversations with the grandson ñ form an uneasy path of the two becoming closer to each other. The casual meeting with an unknown local woman, returning lost hope and a walk around the ìinjuredî city deeply touch her soul. The film tells about the complex fabric of human relations. Somehow ìAlexandraî echoes the previous ìelegiesî of the master (ìFather and Sonî, ìMother and Sonî), but this story is based on an old plan by the director to make a film with the participation of the great opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya.
World premiere 24.05.2007 ñ IFF Cannes

Source : www.kinotavr.ru

 

---

Commentaries and bibliography

Aleksandr Sokurov : Alexandra (Aleksandra, 2007), Nancy CONDEE, kinokultura.com, 2007

 

In 2006, Sokurov portrayed the opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya with her husband, the late cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, in his documentary Elegy of Life: Rostropovich Vishnevskaya. Now she is playing the stunning leading role in his latest feature. The aged Alexandra travels to Chechnya to visit her grandson Denis, who is stationed in the heart of an apparently insoluble hotbed of war. Sokurov has them meet each other in a ruined Grozny, where the grandmother apparently had less trouble making contact with the local population - even though they mistrust her at first - than with her own flesh and blood. Grandmother and grandson have not seen each other for seven years and the aggressive, martial world in which he has been stuck has severely diminished his social skills. Without showing a single drop of blood spilt, Sokurov sketches the pale and traumatised universe that is responsible for this. While Alexandra is unmistakably political - in a direct way that is unusual for Sokurov - the film transcends the local conflict. Alexandra is not only Mother Russia and Denis is not just the dulled Russian soldier. It looks as if the director wants to build in a last humanitarian break, an alarming last moment of choice in an uncontrollable conflict that does not differ very much from so many other wars. So fictional, yet so real.
Source : www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com

---

Selected in the following festivals :

- Les rencontres culturelles Russenko, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre (France), 2013

- Cycle Alexandre Sokourov au cinéma Grand Action, Paris (France), 2012

- Cinéma russe au Kursaal de Besançon, Besançon (France), 2011

- Une semaine de cinéma caucasien à l'Action Christine, Paris (France), 2010

- Alexandre Sokourov : des pages cachées, Paris (France), 2010

- Russian epopee in the Institut de l'image of Aix en Provence, Aix en Provence (France), 2010

- Rencontres de cinéma européen, Vannes (France), 2010

- Days of russian cinema in Chambéry, Chambery (France), 2009

- Monaco Charity Film Festival, Monaco (Principality of Monaco), 2009

- Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Sao Paulo (Brazil ), 2008

- Sofia International Film Festival, Sofia (Bulgaria), 2008

- Hong-Kong International Film Festival, Hong Kong (China), 2008

- Nantes Russian Film Festival ''Univerciné'', Nantes (France), 2008

- Festival ''East-West'', Die (France), 2008

- Aye Aye Film Festival Nancy-Lorraine, Nancy (France), 2008

- Russian week in Castres, Castres (France), 2008

- Les rencontres des cinémas d'Europe, Aubenas (France), 2008

- Europe around Europe, Paris (France), 2008

- FilmFestival Cottbus - Festival of East European Cinema, Cottbus (Germany), 2008

- Riga International Film Festival “Arsenals”, Riga (Latvia), 2008

- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2008

- Warsaw Film Festival, Warsaw (Poland), 2008

- Ljubljana International Film Festival, Ljubljana (Slovenia), 2008

- Russian film festival in Sweden 'KinoRiurik', Stockholm (Sweden), 2008

- Istanbul International Film Festival, Istanbul (Turkey), 2008

- Seattle International Film Festival : SIFF, Seattle (USA), 2008

- San Francisco International Film Festival, San Francisco (USA), 2008

- Santa Barbara International Film Festial : SBIFF, Santa Barbara (USA), 2008

- Yerevan International Film Festival "Golden Apricot", Yerevan (Armenia), 2007

- Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne (Australia), 2007

- Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto (Canada), 2007

- Copenhagen International Film Festival / CPH PIX, Copenhagen (Denmark), 2007

- Days of Russian cinema in Brives La Gaillarde, Brives la Gaillarde (France), 2007

- Strasbourg two weeks of Russian cinema, Strasbourg (France), 2007

- Russian Film Festival, Orléans (France), 2007

- Honfleur Russian Film Festival, Honfleur (France), 2007

- Festival de Cannes, Cannes (France), 2007

- Release in France of the film, Different cities (France), 2007-09-26

- Annual award of the Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics, Moscow (Russia), 2007

- Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2007

- International Human Rights Film Festival, Moscow (Russia), 2007

- Stockholm International Film Festival, Stockholm (Sweden), 2007

- Kyiv International Film Festival 'Molodist', Kiev (Ukraine), 2007

- The Times BFI London Film Festival, London (United Kingdom), 2007

---

Photos and videos

 

Les photos ci-dessous proviennent du site proline-film.ru

Alexandra

 

Your remarks