Ilya KHRZHANOVSKY
Илья ХРЖАНОВСКИЙ
Ilia KHRJANOVSKI
Russia, 2004, 126mn 
Colour, fiction
Four
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4 / Четыре

 

 Quatre

 Chetyre

 
Directed by : Ilya KHRZHANOVSKY (Илья ХРЖАНОВСКИЙ)
Writing credits : Ilya KHRZHANOVSKY (Илья ХРЖАНОВСКИЙ), Vladimir SOROKIN (Владимир СОРОКИН)
 
Cast
Shavkat ABDUSALAMOV (Шавкат АБДУСАЛАМОВ)
Aleksey KHVOCHENKO (Алексей ХВОЧЕНКО)
Yuri LAGUTA (Юрий ЛАГУТА)
Konstantin MURZENKO (Константин МУРЗЕНКО)
Sergey SHNUROV (Сергей ШНУРОВ)
Svetlana VOVCHENKO (Светлана ВОВЧЕНКО)
Irina VOVCHENKO (Ирина ВОВЧЕНКО)
Marina VOVCHENKO (Марина ВОВЧЕНКО)
 
Cinematography : Aleksandr ILKHOVSKY (Александр ИЛЬХОВСКИЙ), Alisher KHAMIDKHODZHAEV (Алишер ХАМИДХОДЖАЕВ)
Production design : Shavkat ABDUSALAMOV (Шавкат АБДУСАЛАМОВ)
Sound : Kirill VASILENKO (Кирилл ВАСИЛЕНКО)
Produced by : Yelena YATSURA (Елена ЯЦУРА)
Production : Filmokom (Фильмоком) / Participation du Ministère de la culture et de la communication et de la Fondation Hubert Bals (при участии Министерства культуры и массовых коммуникаций РФ и Hubert Bals Foundation)
Film revenue in Russia : 0.004 million dollars
 

Awards :
Special Jury prize Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2005
Grand prix au Festival de Rotterdam, 2005

Plot synopsis
The lies shared by three Russian strangers take on a life of their own in director Ilya Khrzhanovsky's dreamlike journey into the strange heart of modern-day Russia. After entering a local watering hole and relaying a series of elaborate but entirely fabricated tales, a prostitute posing as an advertising executive, a piano tuner claiming to be a genetic engineer, and a butcher posing as a Kremlin insider all go their separate ways. In the hours following their strange conversation, all three will experience a surreal and richly symbolic voyage into a land where the specter of even the most elaborate of lies can somehow fade into reality for one tantalizing instant.
Source : www.allmovie.com
 

Commentaries and bibliography
Черный квадрат Хржановского [4], Виктор ТОПОРОВ, seance.ru, 2006
Il'ia Khrzhanovskii, 4 [Chetyre] (2004), Natal'ia SIRIVLIA, kinokultura.com, 2005
Il'ia Khrzhanovskii: 4 , Mark LIPOVETSKY, kinokultura.com, 2005
 

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2014
- International Film Festival of the Commonwealth Countries "Moscow Premiere", Moscow (Russia), 2009
- Budapest Rusian Film Days, Budapest (Hungary), 2007
- International Film Festival of the Commonwealth Countries "Moscow Premiere", Moscow (Russia), 2007
- International Zurich Film Festival, Zurich (Switzerland), 2007
- FEMA / La Rochelle International Film Festival, La Rochelle (France), 2005
- Festival Kinoblick, Stuttgart (Germany), 2005
- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2005
- "Vyborg" Russian Film Festival (formerly ''A Window to Europe''), Vyborg (Russia), 2005
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2005
- Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2005
- Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh (United Kingdom), 2005