Burnt by the Sun
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| Burnt by the Sun | |
|---|---|
 Original DVD poster |
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| Directed by | Nikita Mikhalkov |
| Produced by | Nikita Mikhalkov Michel Seydoux |
| Written by | Rustam Ibragimbekov Nikita Mikhalkov |
| Starring | Oleg Menshikov Nikita Mikhalkov Ingeborga Dapkunaite Nadezhda Mikhalkova |
| Music by | Eduard Artemyev |
| Cinematography | Vilen Kalyuta |
| Editing by | Enzo Meniconi |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics |
| Release date(s) |  May 21, 1994 (premiere at Cannes) 21 April 1995 18 August 1995 |
| Running time | 152 min. |
| Language | Russian/French |
| Budget | $2,800,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Burnt by the Sun (Russian: Утомлённые солнцем, Utomlyonnye solntsem) is a 1994 film by Russian director and actor Nikita Mikhalkov. The film received the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, among many other honours.
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[edit] Plot
The film is set in the mid-1930s, just before the Great Purge, when millions of people in the Soviet Union were repressed and branded enemies of the people under a campaign unleashed by the Stalin regime. Colonel Sergei Kotov (played by Nikita Mikhalkov), a military hero of the Bolshevik revolution, is enjoying the sweet life in his dacha or country house, together with his captivating young wife Maroussia, played by Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė, their six-year-old daughter Nadia and numerous family members and friends. Kotov, relaxed and filled with humour in his semi-retirement, is held in awe by those who surround him. He is also very patriotic and dedicated to the Soviet cause; in addition to having a photograph of him with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Kotov, while boating with his daughter, remarks that the rise of Soviet power will mean the end of fleeing.
Into this idyllic setting enters Dimitri, played by Oleg Menshikov, a young man who was Maroussia's lover a decade ago, before leaving under mysterious circumstances. Dimitri now works for Stalin's secret police, the NKVD, and it becomes clear that despite his humorous, friendly nature he has returned with an agenda. He has secret orders to arrest Maroussia's husband, accusing him of spying for the Germans since 1920 and the Japanese since 1923. This is revenge to some extent, as the reason why he had to leave Maroussia was that Kotov had sent him abroad on duty (Dimitri was qualified, speaking various languages). Eventually Kotov is taken away in a black car; despite Kotov's threats to phone Stalin himself, Kotov is badly beaten and a witness is shot. Kotov himself is later executed, after which Dimitri - as the last scenes of the movie reveal - commits suicide.
[edit] Title
The title derives from a popular 1930s song composed by Jerzy Petersburski. Originally the Polish tango Ta ostatnia niedziela, it became popular in the Soviet Union with the new Russian lyrics as Утомлённое солнце (Utomlyonnoye solntse, Weary Sun) and later was performed by Leonid Utyosov. The title also refers to a mysterious orb of light that appears at various points in the film; the film states at the end that it is dedicated to those "burnt by the sun" of the Revolution ("weary with the sun" in the Russian title).
[edit] Sequel
In recent years, Nikita Mikhalkov has been preparing a sequel called Burnt by the Sun 2 [1] which is now in post-production for a 2007 release[2]; the main characters, such as Kotov and Mitya, will supposedly 'resurrect'.
[edit] External links
[edit] Bibliography
- [Review of] Burnt by the Sun. by Michel Seidou; Nikita Mikhalkov; Rustam Ibragimbekov. The Interpretation of Dreams. by Andrei Zagdansky; Semen Vinokur in The American Historical Review > Vol. 100, No. 4 (Oct., 1995), pp. 1223-1224
[edit] References
| Preceded by Belle Époque |
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1994 |
Succeeded by Antonia's Line |
