안나 멜리캰의 영화 : 《사랑에 대하여(Про любовь)》연구

Abstract

Anna Melikian’s fourth feature film ʺAbout Loveʺ was intended to be an in-between project, a crowd-pleasing commercial film that would help her finance her future efforts. Produced in a total of 25 days, Melikian’s comedy won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Kinotavr Film Festival, a victory that allegedly came as a surprise to the director, whose quirkier art‐house productions, such as ʺMermaidʺ (Rusalka, 2007) and ʺThe Starʺ (Zvezda, 2014), had never won the main prize. ʺAbout Loveʺ-Melikian’s venture into mainstream cinema-was also awarded the Prize of the Distributors’ Jury at Kinotavr and is indeed more likely to appeal to general audiences than her earlier films. The film is permeated with explorations of the ever-popular theme of love, and features a plethora of Russian movie stars, including Renata Litvinova, Vladimir Mashkov, Mikhail Efremov, and Evgenii Tsyganov. It offers more happy endings than all of Melikian’s earlier feature films combined. Despite its commercial orientation, ʺAbout Loveʺ preserves Melikian’s playful visual and narrative style, defies rigid genre prescriptions, and ultimately takes up the same questions as her earlier feature films-the role of geographic, digital, and cultural spaces in the formation and articulation of personal identities.BR ʺAbout Loveʺ is the first film in Melikian’s career that does not end in the protagonist’s death but celebrates love. But then again, does it? Each of the film’s five novellas, held together by a lecture about love delivered by Renata Litvinova, leaves a bittersweet aftertaste.