Elem Klimov
Encyclopedia
Elem Germanovich Klimov was a Soviet Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

. He studied at VGIK, and was married to film director Larisa Shepitko
Larisa Shepitko
-Early Life:She went to the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow as a student of Alexander Dovzhenko. She was a student of Dovzhenko's for 18 months until he died in 1956. Shepitko graduated from VGIK in 1963 with her prize winning diploma film Heat, made when she was 22 years old...

. He is best known in the West for his final film, 1985's Come and See
Come and See
Come and See directed by Elem Klimov, is a 1985 Soviet war movie and psychological horror drama about and occurring during the Nazi German occupation of the Byelorussian SSR. Aleksei Kravchenko and Olga Mironova star as the protagonists Florya and Glasha. The screenplay is by Ales Adamovich and...

(Иди и смотри), a powerful tale of a teenage boy in German-occupied
Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany occurred as part of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 and ended in August 1944 with the Soviet Operation Bagration.- Background :...

 Byelorussia
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

 during the German-Soviet War, but he also directed dark comedies, children's movies, and historical pictures.

Personal life

Elem Klimov was born in Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in July 1933. His parents were staunch communists and his first name was an acronym derived from the names of Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...

, Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

 and Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

. During the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...

, he, his mother and his baby brother were evacuated from their home and crossed the Volga
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...

 on a makeshift raft. Klimov would later draw on these experiences for his 1985 film Come and See
Come and See
Come and See directed by Elem Klimov, is a 1985 Soviet war movie and psychological horror drama about and occurring during the Nazi German occupation of the Byelorussian SSR. Aleksei Kravchenko and Olga Mironova star as the protagonists Florya and Glasha. The screenplay is by Ales Adamovich and...

.

In 1957, Klimov graduated from the Higher Institute of Aviation in Moscow. He considered a career in journalism before settling on cinema. He enrolled at the state film school, VGIK
Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography All-Russian State University of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov), VGIK for short, is a film school in Moscow, Russia.-History:...

, where he studied under acclaimed director Efim Dzigan
Efim Dzigan
Efim Lvovich Dzigan is a Soviet film director.Dzigan was born in Moscow, Russian Empire. In 1938, his film If War Comes Tomorrow was presented in Cannes; in 1941, Dzigan was awarded the Stalin Prize for it.-Director:...

. While a student at the institute, Klimov met Larisa Shepitko
Larisa Shepitko
-Early Life:She went to the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow as a student of Alexander Dovzhenko. She was a student of Dovzhenko's for 18 months until he died in 1956. Shepitko graduated from VGIK in 1963 with her prize winning diploma film Heat, made when she was 22 years old...

, whom he would later marry. In 1983, he was a member of the jury at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival
33rd Berlin International Film Festival
The 33rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 18 to March 3, 1983.-Jury:* Jeanne Moreau * Alex Bänninger* Franco Brusati* Elem Klimov* Ursula Ludwig* Kurt Maetzig* Joseph L...

.

He died in October 2003 after six weeks in a coma.

Film career

Klimov's first feature film, the 1964
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....

 Welcome, or No Trespassing
Welcome, or No Trespassing
Welcome, or No Trespassing is a Soviet movie by Elem Klimov made in 1964. It is a satirical comedy about the excessive restrictions that children face during their vacation in a Young Pioneer camp, imposed by their masters...

(known in the UK as No Holiday for Inochkin) was a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 on Soviet bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...

 in the guise of a children's summer camp
Summer camp
Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....

 adventure story. The film was briefly banned, having been deemed an insult to the Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

; however, the ban was rescinded after Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...

 had a private viewing and authorised its release.

Klimov's second film, Adventures of a Dentist
Adventures of a Dentist
Adventures of a Dentist is a 1965 Soviet dark comedy/drama feature film directed by Elem Klimov on Mosfilm. It is currently unavailable on video or DVD for any audience, but is occasionally screened at film festivals.-Plot:...

(1965
1965 in film
The year 1965 in film involved some significant events, with The Sound of Music topping the U.S. box office.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...

), was a dark
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...

 (and in some ways Tatiesque
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati was a French filmmaker, working as a comedic actor, writer and director. In a poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly of the Greatest Movie Directors Tati was voted the 46th greatest of all time...

) comedy about a dentist who is derided (and eventually has his life ruined) by his colleagues for his natural talent of painlessly pulling out teeth. The implication, that society inevitably ostracizes those that are gifted, horrified the censors who told Klimov to change it. When Klimov refused, the film was given the lowest classification, "category three", which meant that it was shown in only 25–78 movie theatres.

Next, Klimov began making a film about Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their only son Alexei...

 called Agony
Agony (film)
Agony is a film by Elem Klimov, made c.1973-75 and released in Western and Central Europe in 1982 , after protracted resistance from Soviet authorities...

. The road to screening took him nine years and many rewrites. Although finished in 1975, the final edit was not released in the USSR until 1985, due to suppressive measures partly because of its orgy
Orgy
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....

 scenes and partly because of its relatively nuanced portrait of Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...

. It had been shown in western Europe a few years before. In 1976, Klimov finished a film begun by his teacher Mikhail Romm
Mikhail Romm
Mikhail Ilych Romm was a Soviet film director.He was born in Irkutsk. His father was a social democrat of Jewish descent who had been exiled there. He graduated from gymnasium in 1917 and entered the Moscow College for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture...

 before the latter's death called And Still I Believe....

In 1979, Klimov's wife Larisa Shepitko
Larisa Shepitko
-Early Life:She went to the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow as a student of Alexander Dovzhenko. She was a student of Dovzhenko's for 18 months until he died in 1956. Shepitko graduated from VGIK in 1963 with her prize winning diploma film Heat, made when she was 22 years old...

 died in a car accident while directing an ecological fable based on a famous novel by Valentin Rasputin
Valentin Rasputin
Valentin Grigoriyevich Rasputin is a Russian writer. He was born and lived much of his life in the Irkutsk Oblast in Eastern Siberia. Rasputin's works depict rootless urban characters and the fight for survival of centuries-old traditional rural ways of life...

 called Farewell to Matyora. A year after her death Klimov filmed a 25-minute tribute to his wife entitled Larisa (1980), then went on to finish the film she had started. Despite being shelved for two years after completion, Farewell was eventually released in 1983.

His wife's death had a profound impact on Klimov - all his films after this time were tragedies. His next film, Come and See
Come and See
Come and See directed by Elem Klimov, is a 1985 Soviet war movie and psychological horror drama about and occurring during the Nazi German occupation of the Byelorussian SSR. Aleksei Kravchenko and Olga Mironova star as the protagonists Florya and Glasha. The screenplay is by Ales Adamovich and...

, was released in 1985 to worldwide acclaim and won the top prize at the Moscow Film Festival
Moscow International Film Festival
Moscow International Film Festival , is the film festival first held in Moscow in 1959. From its inception to 1995 it was held every second year in July, alternating with the Karlovy Vary festival. The festival has been held annually since 1995....

. The film depicts the experiences of a 15-year-old boy joining the resistance in Nazi-occupied Belarus
Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany occurred as part of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 and ended in August 1944 with the Soviet Operation Bagration.- Background :...

 in 1943. Speaking of how the film drew on his own childhood experience of the war, Klimov said, "As a young boy, I had been in hell... Had I included everything I knew and shown the whole truth, even I could not have watched it."

In 1986, fresh from the success of Come and See, and with the changes brought by perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...

 in the air, Klimov was chosen by his colleagues to be the First Secretary of the new, revamped Filmmakers' Union. His reign saw the belated release of hundreds of previously banned films and the reinstatement of several directors who had fallen out of political favour. However, Klimov was frustrated by the obstacles that still remained in his way and gave up his post in 1988 to Andrei Smirnov, saying that he wanted to make films again. Klimov did not complete any further films after Come and See, mostly due to the political changes in Russia. In 2000, he declared, "I've lost interest in making films. Everything that was possible I felt I had already done."

External links

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