Silent Souls ( Ovsyanki )

Silent Souls (DVD) (*)

$30.99

Original Title: Ovsyanki
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Venice Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Russian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
Russian ( Dolby Digital Stereo )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
75 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 2010 and produced in:
Russia ( Russia, Eastern Europe )

Directed By:
Aleksei Fedorchenko

Written By:
Denis Osokin

Actors:
Yuliya Aug ..... Tanya
Olga Dobrina ..... Yulya
Larisa Domaskina ..... Seller in the shop
Viktor Gerrat ..... Bird's seller
Olga Gireva ..... Aist
Artem Habibulin ..... Rimma
Vyacheslav Melechov ..... Vesa
Igor Sergeev ..... Miron
Leisan Sitdikova ..... Little Aist
Viktor Sukhorukov ..... Aist's mother
Yuriy Tsurilo ..... STSI Inspector
Ivan Tushin
Yulia Tushina
Sergey Yarmolyuk

Synopsis:

When Miron's beloved wife Tanya passes away, he asks his best friend Aist to help him say goodbye to her according to the rituals of the Merya culture, an ancient Finno-Ugric tribe from Lake Nero, a picturesque region in West-Central Russia. Although the Merya people blended with the Russians in the 17th century, their myths and traditions live on in the modern life of their descendants. The two men set out on a road trip thousands of miles across the boundless landscape. With them are two small birds in a cage. Along the way, as is the custom of Merya people, Miron shares intimate memories of his conjugal life. But as they reach the banks of the sacred lake where they will forever part with the body, he realises he wasn't the only one in love with Tanya...

Aist (Igor Sergeyev) is a factory worker and photographer whose favorite past time is collecting words, songs, and other little ditties from his people - the disappearing culture of the Merjans, who were a Finno-Ugric tribe who lived in the regions of the modern Russian cities Rostov, Kostroma, Jaroslavl, and Vladimir, and were assimilated by the Slavs and the Russians. After purchasing a pair of buntings on a hunch they would be useful to him in some mysterious way, he meets with Miron (Yuri Tsurilo), his boss and friend who informs him that his wife Tanya (Yuliya Aug) died the previous night. He wants Aist to help him provide her with a proper funeral in the traditional Merja style. At Miron's home, they wash her body together and then set out on their journey by car. Along the way, the new widower follows the ancient Merja custom of "Smoking" - sharing intimate details of their marriage and sexual habits. Miron recalls pouring vodka over Tanya's body as prelude to love-making. Harvesting his memories is a way of handling grief and letting go of the past. Aist recalls the Merja erotic custom of twining colored threads in the pubic hair of young brides as an example of his fascination with the pagan rituals of the past, a ritual that is repeated on the dead body. While his friend focuses on Tanya, he dredges up his uneasy relationship with his father (Vikto Sukhorukov), a poet and oddball. The two men stop in a town to purchase firewood which they take to a lake which Miron and Tanya visited on their honeymoon. The ritual of turning her body into a burning pyre takes place slowly and without many words. On the return home, there is a shocking revelation and a surprising deed by the buntings who have patiently waited for their performance in this drama about death and the rituals that surround it.

Present days. A man and his companion go on a journey to cremate the dead body of the former beloved wife, on a riverbank in the area where they spent their honeymoon.

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 12 November, 2012.

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