Youth of the poet 2

Filming of a detective story about the life of lyceum students has been completed

The shooting period of the film “1814” has been completed - a historical detective story about serial murders in Tsarskoe Selo, the main characters of which are lyceum students and Pushkin himself.

The news of such a spectacle provokes a sour expression. Everything seems vulgar beforehand. The connection of the name of the lyceum, which is sacred for Russian culture, with the terms “serial killer” and “maniac” is disgusting. In addition, historical cinema requires special costs and professionalism - but will they be provided?

And Pushkin is unlucky on the silver screen: the national poetic genius turned out to be untranslatable not only into other languages ​​as such, but also into film language (however, Lermontov and Yesenin are unlucky).

But these are cultural considerations, by definition protective. It is necessary to add here the rational realities of the film industry: the main viewer is young and “stupid”, he demands excitement. The idea of ​​the “1814” project belongs to producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who is consistently looking for contact with a young film audience. And since today's successful young heroes are discredited by the pop style of storytelling, and the current environment increasingly resists the glossy heavy fill, which is not at all like the July rain, the past remains.

Moreover, it is full of exciting stories: both absolutely untouched and those that, according to producers, are asking for remakes. That is, they will ensure the attention of the public in any case (like, for example, the patriotic blockbuster “Alexander Nevsky” being prepared by producers Igor Kalenov and Gevorg Nersesyan). What does the 1814 project promise in this sense?

One of the main historical brands is Pushkin. Whatever you say, the lyceum is still Pushkin. Rodnyansky and other authors of the project foresee possible sunburns of our poetry, and therefore shift the action to the youth of the genius, and in the center of the narrative is a “parade of planets” - six future top managers and newsmakers. Six lyceum students - and Pushkin is just one of the company.

We introduce today's teenagers to history, and at the same time inspire students of elite schools to love and serve the Fatherland. And not for a stupid, so to speak, service, for we are not talking about little people - clerks and office workers (an office is an office in our opinion), but about the creators of their own destiny, lovers of freedom and liberties, opponents of primitive discipline and misunderstood order.

This all sounds almost ironic, but otherwise one cannot avoid pathos, without which there can be no box-office cinema. The project, one cannot but repeat, was conceived as successful in every sense, ideological and financial (with art, depending on your luck). This is why we need a detective plot, known only to graduates of humanities universities who have read the collective poem of lyceum students “Sazonova” and Pushkin’s epigram “Tomorrow with a penny candle / I will appear before the holy image: / My friend! I remained alive, / But I was already under death’s scythe...”

Of course, some of the real plot in the film is slightly manipulated for the sake of consistency and general entertainment, but most people are unlikely to notice this: we admit that for a huge part of the audience the film will become, as they now say, their first acquaintance with Küchlya or Delvig. And then there is the question of the credibility of the heroes and the era. A challenge for the director.

“1814” is director Andres Puustusmaa’s debut in big cinema. According to executive producer Natalya Gorina (production is carried out by Sergei Melkumov’s Non-Stop Production together with STS with the assistance of the Twin company), an Estonian is even better suited as a director than an “ethnic Russian”, since he is able to distance himself from our cliches and our reverence. Andres Puustusmaa was born in 1971, studied to be an actor in Tallinn, worked in his homeland and in Finland, but learned his profession at the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors in Moscow, so he shouldn’t turn out to be a complete stranger.

For screenwriter Dmitry Miropolsky, “1814” is a full-fledged debut. In the interview, he conscientiously provides a list of used literature (though, for advertising purposes, he recklessly calls the lyceum students “sort of young punks”).

The future pride of the Fatherland (the first set is presented in its entirety, 29 people, from 14 to 18 years old) is played by almost their peers, students of theater universities in both capitals. Top-notch actors have been invited to play adult roles: director Malinovsky and professor Kunitsyn - Bogdan Stupka and Alexander Lykov, respectively; Besides them, Sergei Garmash, Alexey Guskov, Alexander Bashirov, Sergei Barkovsky, Evgeny Dyatlov, Yuri Nifontov, Natalya Surkova, Fyodor Bondarchuk starred. The actors talk about the almost theatrical process of work - about rehearsals, which are so rare in cinema now, about detailed conversations with the director... The chosen location is historical - St. Petersburg, Tsarskoe Selo, there are no scenes in the pavilion. Cameraman Yuri Raisky, artist Konstantin Pakhotin, costume designer Tatyana Poyarkova are pros. They are actively looking for a composer, since music is now no longer part of the phonogram, but part of the project.

All that remains is to wait for October 19, 2007 - it would be logical if the release date was scheduled to coincide with this day. Then the public will be able to see to what extent the producers’ calculations were justified, seemingly even more than competent - reasonable. In the first century of cinema, we have had extremely few successes, let alone masterpieces that defeat the ideological order. One of the best paintings is “Star of Captivating Happiness” by Vladimir Motyl; By the way, “Decembrists” are the next brand after lyceum students. I admit that a project for a new film about the uprising on Senate Square is already brewing in the depths of some studio.

And Rodnyansky’s plans are as follows: after the film “1814” (by the way, the title is supposed to be written like this, and pronounced “Eighteen - Fourteen”), the producers are discussing the idea of ​​the film “1916” - about the young Mayakovsky and “1964” - about Joseph Brodsky .

Olga SHERWOOD, St. Petersburg