Monologue

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Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> There is no sorrow that does not pass</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Director: Ilya Averbakh</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Writer: Yevgeni Gabrilovich</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: A renowned scientist has only one passion, his work. His wife left him long ago and when his daughter enters his life for the first time, the passion that he has forgotten returns to make him live again.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Sretensky is the director of a scientific institute comprised of Soviet intellectuals. His life seems to consist of his work, which has become tedious, and having nice meals prepared by his cook and housekeeper, Elsa, who constantly threatens to quit for a job that has more perceived status than a servant. </div> <bR> <div> Sretensky has lived in the same home for over 50 years, since he was a young boy. When his daughter Tassya, whom he has never known, arrives full of life and looking like a virginal Meryl Streep, he becomes attached to her; only to have her leave and return to her mother when she meets a lover and things don't work out as she had anticipated. A few years later she comes back to drop off her young toddler daughter, Nina, saying that she has left her husband and needs some time to get her life together.</div> <bR> <div> Fast-forward about 16 years and Nina is having a birthday party. Nina and her grandfather are best buddies. He is happy in his life. Sretensky is an incurable idealist and when his colleague Kokitov convinces him to pursue pure, high-risk research for a Prozac-like pharmaceutical, Sretensky starts to become an impassioned man once again. Passion is the theme that runs throughout the film, with the concept of acting in an "unhinged" manner being what brings out the best in a scientist or an artist.</div> <bR> <div> About the time when Nina falls in love with a young man roughly ten years older, her mother returns and soon marries someone so she is not alone-she has no passion for him. Nina and Tassya don't get along, as Nina knows that her grandfather is the only adult who has given her love over the years. She is so close to her grandfather that although she has told her mother she is no longer a virgin, she confides to Sretensky that she is <I>only thinking </I>about having sex. </div> <bR> <div> One of the lessons that Nina learns with her young lover, and later with a much older man, is that breaking a heart goes two ways. The intense feelings that these love affairs bring to the surface tests the relationship between Nina and her grandfather like neither could have ever predicted. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: Sitting through a movie from Russia which deals with sensitive issues is somewhat of a surprise after seeing films that focus on tanks, Red Square, peasants, and stone faced politicians for so many years. </div> <bR> <div> Looking at this group of Russians is certainly a peek into the upper classes. They have nice homes, prestigious jobs, and sailboats to enjoy their time at the beach during the summer months. </div> <bR> <div> Just as in America, or I guess anywhere in the world, there are some people who are always looking out for themselves at the expense of others. Blood is thicker than water but sometimes you wish that were not the case. Some souls come around eventually, while others never close the loop on being anything other than a user of friends and loved ones and a drain on the family unit. </div> <bR> <div> At one point Nina asks her grandfather for advice about dealing with her lover and the best he can say is, "…be prudent." It is a sad commentary on his own life when he says this because he can not remember the last time he felt passion. That's a part of old age that is mind over matter. </div> <bR> <div> If you doubt this, see the film <I><B>Innocence</B></I> when lovers reunite after 40 years. One is a widower and the other tells her husband about the affair. Sometimes when you have something worth going for, the only choice is to go for it.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Not Rated </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>