Painful Indifference

Painful Indifference
A shot from the film
Directed by	Alexander Sokurov
Written by	Yuriy Arabov
Starring	Ramaz Chihvadze Alla Osipenko Vladimir Zamanskiy Tatyana Yegorova Viktoria Amitova Irina Sokolova Dmitriy Bryantsev Vadim Zhuk Ilya Rivin Andrei Reshetin Vladimir Dmitriev
Distributed by	Lenfilm
Release date(s)	1983 (completed production), 1987
Running time	110 minutes
Country	USSR
Language	Russian
IMDb profile

Painful Indifference (Russian: Скорбное бесчувствие) is the third produced film by Alexander Sokurov, completed in 1983, but the fourth released one, as it was banned by Soviet authorities until perestroika in 1987. The film is a juxtaposition of World War I and an insane asylum, inspired by Bernard Shaw's play Heartbreak House. Only amateur actors were used like in most early Sokurov films, and many of the trademarks of his cinematographic style were already apparent.

[edit] Background

The film sparked controversy and was halted multiple times even during the production process. It was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival.