Twilight Portrait
| Twilight Portrait | |
|---|---|
| Портрет в сумерках | |
| Directed by | Angelina Nikonova |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | Elena Afanasyeva |
Production company | Baraban Films |
| Distributed by | Rezo Films (international) |
Release dates | |
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Budget | US$17,000 |
Twilight Portrait (Russian: Портрет в сумерках, romanized: Portret v sumerkakh) is a 2011 Russian erotic drama film, the feature directorial debut of Angelina Nikonova. Co-written by Nikonova and lead actress Olga Dihovichnaya, the film follows Marina, a middle-class Moscow social worker whose life is shattered when she is raped by three policemen after her handbag is stolen, and her subsequent, ambiguous relationship with one of her assailants.[1][2][3] It premiered at the Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival in June 2011 and had its international premiere in the Venice Days program of the 68th Venice International Film Festival.[1][2]
The film was shot on a budget of US$17,000 over 29 days using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR.[3] It won several international festival awards, including the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Golden Alexander for Best Film, the Golden Puffin Discovery Award at the Reykjavík International Film Festival, and the Best Debut prize at the Warsaw Film Festival.[3]
Plot
[edit]Marina, a young upper-middle-class counselling psychologist in provincial Russia, is trapped one evening in a poor suburb after her handbag is stolen. She accepts what she takes to be a lift home from three policemen, but instead of taking her home they rape her in an open field. Marina tells no one and continues her outwardly unchanged life — her marriage to a wealthy husband, her professional work, and an affair with one of her husband's friends. She subsequently seeks out and begins a relationship with one of her rapists, Andrei, sheltering and caring for him with a fixity of purpose that resists easy interpretation. The film traces her deepening estrangement from her earlier life and her drift toward the impoverished world she once observed as a professional outsider.[1][2][3]
Cast
[edit]- Olga Dihovichnaya as Marina
- Sergei Borisov as Andrei
- Sergei Goliudov
Production
[edit]The film was Nikonova's feature directorial debut following earlier work in short film and documentary.[2] She co-wrote the screenplay with Dihovichnaya, an actress previously best known as the spouse of the late Russian director Ivan Dykhovichny.[1] Nikonova produced the film through her company Baraban Films together with Leonid Ogaryov and Dykhovichnaya.[1] The production, of a small crew, was shot in 29 days on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II for a total budget of US$17,000, with cinematography by Eben Bull and Eduard Ilyin.[1][3]
Release and reception
[edit]Twilight Portrait had its world premiere in competition at the 22nd Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival in Sochi on 10 June 2011, where it was received with what one trade critic described as controversy from both critics and audiences.[1] Its international premiere followed in the Venice Days parallel section of the 68th Venice International Film Festival in September 2011.[2] The film subsequently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the Warsaw Film Festival, the Reykjavík International Film Festival, the Stockholm International Film Festival, and the Bergen International Film Festival, among others.
Reviewing the film out of Kinotavr for Variety, Jay Weissberg praised what he called Dihovichnayaa's "breakthrough" performance and Nikonova's assured control of the material.[1] Writing for Screen International from the Venice Days premiere, Dan Fainaru described the film as "an impressive debut" whose power was carried by "the top performances of the entire cast" and Dihovichnaya's central turn in particular.[2] In a scholarly review in Slovo, the journal of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London, Ellen Rutten described the film as "a tale of moral and state corruption set in an unremittingly bleak modern-day Russia," praising its uncompromising engagement with post-Soviet institutional apathy.[3]
Awards
[edit]- Golden Alexander — Best Film, Thessaloniki International Film Festival (2011)[3]
- Golden Puffin — Discovery Award, Reykjavík International Film Festival (2011)[3]
- Best Debut, Warsaw Film Festival (2011)[3]
- Blue Angel — Best Film, Art Film Fest (2012)[3]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Weissberg, Jay (June 19, 2011). "Twilight Portrait". Variety. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fainaru, Dan (November 16, 2011). "Twilight Portrait". Screen International. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rutten, Ellen (2014). "Portret v sumerkakh — Twilight Portrait (2011)" (PDF). Slovo. 26 (1). School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London: 45–46.