“Dogs are a minority. There could be gypsies in their place "

The new film of Cornel Mundruzo “White God” is the story of collective indifference, told on behalf of a little girl, under the influence of society who betrayed her beloved dog. And at the same time, the story of forgiveness, told just on behalf of an abandoned dog (this plot layer is inhabited by a flock of stray dogs). And also this is a story about the strength of music (well, or art in general), which finally reconciles everyone - indifferent and indifferent, adults and children, people and dogs. After the Cannes show, the “White God” (“Special View” program) Inna Denisova talked with the director about how he shot dogs about the close connection of his films with the opera and literature and about the twilight of Europe.

- Is it true that the dogs you shot in the film are taken from the shelters?

- Is it true. Everything is purebred. Even the main characters, twins. Moreover - we are proud that each dog found the owners after filming.

-And how did you seek from them, mmm, a good game?

- They were trained for a long time. Six months approximately. We worked as an American trainer Teresa Anne Miller. She is known for the films "Beethoven", "Commissar Rex", "Deadly Weapon - 3", "Film Professor".

I was absolutely happy when she found twins. At the beginning of the film, they are similar to cute domestic dogs, but their peculiarity is that they easily turn into wild dogs. Two opposite instincts - this is rare in dogs.

- Did you participate in the training? They explained to dog actors, what do you want from them as a director?

- No, everything was the other way around: the script was adjusted in accordance with observations of dogs. I corresponded for dogs. Usually the director on the set is a person endowed with power. Here I had a useful experience: to completely forget about the authorities. Forget your ego. When you work with children and animals, only they dictate the rules.

-I had to give up the scenes because the dogs did not obey?

- You You can’t imagine how many times this happened. They started working and understood that there would be no episode. It is necessary, for example, for dogs to interact, but they do not. After all, even trained, the dog cannot play - it can express only its real feelings.

- Have you seen the film directed by Rostotsky “White Bim Black Ear”? Soviet children were injured by him. The dog handler in an interview told how he achieved what was desired from the dog: the setter, who played in the film, fell in love with the artist Vyacheslav Tikhonov.

- No, I have not seen this film - but I’ll see, I am curious. But I saw many other Soviet films-I was born in the 75th year, only then they were shown on TV. We had a “soft communism” in Hungary. We called ourselves the "funny hut of the socialist camp." We did not have as tough as in Romania. But the post -Soviet period ended. And, you know, from modern Hungary I have much worst sensations. Actually, I am talking about them in the film. In it - everything that I think the last five years.

- And what do you think about?

- I still live in Budapest. The society around me is becoming more and more extremist. More and more people are set against democracy, against the principles of the free world. Now in Hungary - the thirties. The main message: populism, nationalism, totalitarianism. Dangerous mixture. Especially during the financial crisis. Because of Orban and his politics, people consider the European Union something like the Soviet Union. Hungary is not alone: ​​extremists are strong today in Austria, Norway, even in France. I live in society, and my task as an artist is to criticize him. Create opportunities to talk on sore topics. Create metaphors. Dogs are a minority. In their place, for example, there could be gypsies. The task that I set in this film is to show how the minority becomes a crowd.

-I took everything a little differently. Rather, in the context of Johanna: it seemed to me that in the first place the theological aspect presented as the Zoosofsky. For which the Anagram God / DOG works . And also the name of the dog Hagen , that is , Heathen , Pagan , Gentile. Is the god-dog a pagan deity? Are you close to a pagan view of the world with its pantheistic adoption of nature?

- You read everything correctly. Dogs are the best friends of a person. Symbols of absolute, pure love and friendship. A person betrays, the dog forgives. My grandfather was an Orthodox priest. Looking at the Trinity, I thought about God many times. Why and by whom it was decided that he looks like a white person? The white man conquered, colonized, oppressed. The dog is not capable of this in principle. Therefore, it was important for us that our dogs would be abandoned, devoted to a person.

- The film changes the genre: begins like a family movie, turns into a thriller, and by the end it is almost a horror film.

- To find a cinematic language in which we can talk about modern life, you need to mix genres. I shot a political melodrama with genre elements-partly adventure, partly a film-public.

- And what about you, a director with a European name, relate to Hungary? We have Zvyagintsev in the status of the chief independent director representing Russia in Europe.

- We, Hungarians, are very special people in this regard. Our society is fighting with the ego: if you are sure that you are something-welcome to Budapest, they will quickly put you in place. For example, they love me much more in Russia than in Hungary. Not to mention Europe. However, it is useful to live in Hungary so as not to be conceived. In Hungary, I am nobody. But I work a lot abroad: in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. I make productions in opera theaters. I especially liked Poland when I put a “bat”: the Poles are so modern and professional.

- All your previous films were very theatrical. The courtyard of the Palazzo in the "Gentle Son" resembles theatrical scenery. In the White God, you do what it would be impossible to do on the theater stage. This is more like a performance.

- Everything is right. For ten years I shot about the same thing. I am truly proud of the “gentle son” as a very poetic and philosophical film. But all this time I solved my teenage problems: who am I, am I talented? It is easy to notice that all my films are “Johanna”, “Nice Days”, “Delicate Son” - about the same thing. Today I understand that I have grown. And I started other problems. The surrounding reality began to worry me more than my own inner world. Search for ways to agree. Feeling this film, I felt like a debutant. It was a way to reset, return to their virgin. Excellent, useful experience.

- It is very interesting how the film will represent the viewer. On a poster with a portrait of a dog, you wait for the inscription "Family Cinema".

- I always make a movie with the same purpose - so that the viewer shudder. The main thing is to influence the sensual level. In this case, I sympathize with the PR managers: go explain to the viewer that he will see there.

- And why the second Hungarian rapexia of the leaf?

- Yes, I was already asked why I took music from the cartoon “Tom and Jerry” (laughs) . In my opinion, today she is associated with them more than with a sheet, and this association is also what I needed in the film. On the one hand, the music is emblemical for Hungary, on the other hand, it is replicated by world pop culture.

Indeed, classical music is very close to me. And, in my opinion, the last forty minutes of the “White God” is an absolute opera. Wide gestures, deep emotions - all this is very opera. I am not a realist director that fixes small details, such as the Brothers Dardenn. I love them very much. But their cinema is not my nature. And the opera is mine.

- You are also very literary -centric ...

- I have a very special relationship with Russian literature. I have not read the last novel by Sorokin, he has not been translated. But the “ice”, the performance according to which I staged, is still one of my loved ones. For several years now I have been thinking about making a film on this book. Another writer to whom I am worshiped now is John Kutzeee. “Dishonor” is one of the novels that determine me. The film "White God" is inspired by the books of Kutzee.

- And finally, the most important question. Why do you love washing machines so much? They have them in every film.

- Yes Everything is simple. This is a symbol of purity. The hero of "pleasant days" bathes in a typewriter, cleansing of the prison past. Rudy approaches the machine when he meets Magdu: he has a chance to become better.

In the “White God”, cars appear when the father and daughter at the war have a chance to agree. Well, among other things, washing machines look great on the screen.