Portret v sumerkakh

The director’s debut feature continues the concern with violence so prominent in contemporary Russian culture, from New Drama of the Presniakov Brothers and Vasilii Sigarev, to Sigarev’s directorial debut VOLCHOK (2009) and Sergei Loznitsa’s SCHASTYE MOE (2010, Cottbus 2010).

The film’s opening scene graphically and vividly shows scenes of violence as police officers rape a woman on the roadside. The social worker Marina (played by Olga Dihovichnaya, who also co-wrote the script) explores violence in an everyday context as she investigates potential child abuse. Marina is struck by a series of mishaps, culminating in her being raped by several policemen she had approached for help. The humiliation changes her safe life: Marina seeks revenge. She keeps returning to the place of the crime and tracks down one of the perpetrators. Yet instead of avenging herself, she offers herself to the offender, subjecting herself to his violent behaviour.

The film’s view of suburban life is certainly grim. The portrayal of victim and aggressor, of centre and periphery, of a stable relationship to violent obsession capture the “twilight” rendered visually in the contrast of gloom and brightness. The director exposes underlying violence in everyday life, a violence that becomes uncontrollable and destructive, leaving nothing but a huge void.