‘Simply an anachronism’: repetition and meaning in Kira muratova's Chekhovian Motifs

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article considers the formal and discursive functions of repetition in Kira Muratova's Chekhovskie motivy/Chekhovian Motifs (2002). Operating at visual and verbal levels, Muratova's poetics of repetition encompass a parody of the notion of figuration, as well as a broad critique of signification, giving expression to a ‘crisis of representation’ specific to post-Soviet culture. Yet, despite the film's contemporary cultural frame of reference, Chekhovian Motifs finds a formal and thematic precedent in its source material — Chekhov's story ‘Difficult People’ and one-act play Tatiana Repina. Through parallel readings of the film and these works, the author identifies similar techniques and concerns in Chekhov's writing, which Muratova develops and adapts to the postmodern metier of her art. As such, the article demonstrates the fundamental relationship between Chekhovian Motifs and its literary sources, as well as the broader cultural and historical relevance of Muratova's return to Chekhov himself.