A plot 

Up-to-day Chechnya. Disposition of the russian troops. Grandmother Alexandra Nikolaevna has come to her grandson – one of the best officers in his military unit. After her spending here few days, she will open a new world for herself. In this men world there are no women, warmth, and comfort. Pathetic way of life, they are ashamed of feelings. Probably they don’t have neither time nor power for this. Each day and hour lives of people are at issue. But anyway this world is populated by human beings.

For his 16th live-action film Alexander Sokurov wrote a scenario by himself, to implement his old dream: to make a legendary opera singer Galina Vyshnevskaya a heroine of the film. For the realization of this project Sokurov and Vyshnevskaya came in Chechnya. In Alexandra there is connection with the last few projects of the director. Like in trilogy of the power (“Molokh”, “Taurus”, “The Sun”), here Sokurov shows an extremely strong unordinary personality in the historical decorations, the real one. As in films of the “family cycle” (“Mother and sun”, “Father and sun”), he brings together two people – own, near related and distant, resembling and different, existed in a field of the mutual attraction, spread out for thousand kilometers.


"There is no war in the film about war"(Alexander Sokurov) 

- This history for me isn’t about problem of today but about eternal one. Not about Russia nowadays, its Caucasian politics, troops, it is about eternal russian life. War – is always a terrible thing. Hostility was taken away from the film. I don’t like russian military live-action films. Once I have seen the war, all these effectives attacks, colourful explosions, falling bodies in the slow motion always were associated to me with such words as “vulgarity”, “falseness”. There is no poetry, no beauty in the war, so you can’t shoot it in the poetical way: this inexpressible fear, inexpressible humiliation of the man. To understand this, it is enough to visit such conditions seriously. “Alexandra” was the working title, but both russian and French producers asked to leave it. Alexandra has a worldwide root. This name – is a simple, and direct road to the character.

-What we call up-to-dateness is relatively. The time we were shooting against present day – is past already. We were trying to formulate those clashes, which always will be. Such a “present continuous time”. I am a son of the military man, I was living in military cities, so there is no exotic for me in the military life. For the person with a sensitive social intuition our film is seemed to be very modern, but there is no urgency in “Alexandra”.

All the used vocabulary is the same as 40 years ago. And I am not sure that something will be changed in the future. In this film we talk about constants, not only russian ones. A heroine could be American woman, arrived to her grandson in Iraq or an English woman came to her grandson in Afganistan. I know how big is the price of the present peace in Chechnya. I know about numerous crimes and hardheartedness of the people during the war. But the war hasn’t finished yet, and we should return to each other, mutually respecting sacrifices. Our film – is an art fiction, not a journalistic action. We are looking the ways of the people to each other in our film – and we find them.

"I just could not refuse from this role"(Galina Vyshnevskaya) 

-Sokurov simply said, that it is extremely important now – to make such film about Chechnya. Without war in lovely pictures, bombing, firing, to try to understand and find yourself. Besides he insisted on me playing his heroine….In this film there is no moralization. He just copied picture of life from the reality – three days in Grozny, a grandmother visits her grandson – 27 years old captain who is in Chechnya with his mission. Different situations, meetings, conversations. Dialogs are not long, there is almost nothing produced – everything in the real decorations….There is even an episode, where I perched on armoured personnel carrier.

In the film there is no characters history. It is implied that this aged woman, probably a teacher in the past, a wife of the military man, and her grandson also is military. A russian woman, and the whole situation from her vision.
The most difficult was to get down from the armoured personnel carrier. Not only in the literal sense of the word. To get down from the armour down to the ciwy streets – this is the most difficult for everyone in Chechnya now.

"Her voice and her face amazed me when I was a child..."(Alexander Sokurov) 

-For the first time I heard her voice when I was in the school. This voice was amazing. Later on TV I watched a fragment of the opera of Dmitry Shostakovich “Catherine Ismailova”, it was the first time when I saw her face. It was exceptional face.
In Galina Vyshnevskaya I found something that I couldn’t find in anybody else: a beautiful person, absolutely organic with a unique voice. When I was a student of the historical faculty I found out about opposition of the Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vyshnevskaya families to the soviet government, in those time looked like a big and solid.

I thought of her many times, but couldn’t imagine that I will meet her once. Few times I was offered to make an opera matinees, but I always refused. Once a bell was heard and a familiar man voice said: “Good afternoon, my name is Slava, I need to talk to you”. I immediately recognized a voice of Mstislav Rostropovich. He came in Saint-Petersburg and offered to stage the opera. Then Galina Vyshnevskaya has entered, and I saw her. Since that time I understood, that everything I dreamed about will come true. One morning I realized the details of the idea of the film starring by her. A film, which I want to create for her and in the name of her. I called her in Paris and retold her a story which appeared on my mind. I remember her silence and her words: “Of course, we will definitely work together”. When she read scenario, she said only one thing: “Do you really think I will be able to play this?”

When I came to her in Moscow, we were listening to Shalyapin’s recordings, watched films with Anna Maniani, discussing them. We were trying to understand what is an ugly woman at the screen and how beautiful it is. She worked hard and effectively: I sensed how she was changing. No pride, haughtiness. She is absolutely an exceptional case. Enough were to make one-two takes. She took the hints. Seamlessness, absolute concentration, very accurate reaction for the physical action, a brilliant work with her partner. She is an actress of such level, when she is able to inspire her partner. If there is a pause during the shootings, she does not talk with anyone: put on her headphones and listens music. Her desire to save a stature of her accumulated status, unwillingness to share it is amazing. A scale of her personality is enormous. It was difficult for some people to get used to it.

"Shootings were at the extreme conditions"(Alexander Sokurov) 

-More creative tasks are, more honesty is required. Last years Chechnya was always shot in Kabardino-Balkaria. But we were shooting in Chechnya: there is another atmosphere. Shootings were in its centre – Grozny. The shootings lasted 28 months and were held in extreme conditions. I ought to go there: the real atmosphere, real people, and real tension.
Still film – is an inimitable part of the life. I don’t have right to spend life for the drafts. To talk with honour and dignity about what we are talking about we ought to pass through the risk experience. At the shootings we were going in the armored cars, we had an escort: there are constant blasting, attacks, roads are mined. Galina Vyshnevskaya was living in a bunker, we conveyed her separately. Changed numbers, cars, routes everything was coded. Sometimes we got out the cars: 7 minutes of shootings and then immediately back. We were shooting where people serve, live, sleep, and eat. This atmosphere helped us to balance something, to see something better and purely.

30 days behind the double wall (Galina Vyshnevskaya) 

-Everything was shot in soldier’s divisions in Grozny. We caught the moment of the Basaev’s death. The situation was very serious. I was living in the reservation. This is a closed territory, outside the wall – double wall, two or three gates are opening and closing for enter. There was always a submachine gunner with us. Armed driver, and at the shootings from the rear of us convoy – 15 more people with automatic machines. Each day we worked 10 hours. 30 days outside the wall – in the film there are no frame without my heroine.
I remember one conversation with Chechens, we talked about children, they were so proud saying: “before the war there was one million of people and now 1 million 200 thousands”. They saved their nation. Also everyone there is silent, tensely self-disciplined – as Chechens as our soldiers and officers. Life is very complicated. When you ask Chechens something – they answer, but you can sense that their head and heart is busy by something else. Everyone got tired from such life. Everyone wants the end of it, to have everything in a different way. How to make this, probably people are thinking about it.

LINKS

• Alexandra