Mournful Unconcern is the third produced film by Alexander Sokurov

Alexander Sokurov

Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov is a Russian filmmaker. His most significant works include a semi-documentary, Russian Ark , filmed in a single unedited shot, and Faust , which was honoured with the Golden Lion, the highest prize for the best film at the Venice Film Festival.- Life and work...

, completed in 1983, but the fourth released one, as it was banned by Soviet authorities until 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 1987. The film is a juxtaposition of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and an insane asylum, inspired by Bernard Shaw's

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

 play Heartbreak House

Heartbreak House

Heartbreak House is a play written by George Bernard Shaw, first published in 1919 and first played at the Garrick Theatre in 1920. According to A. C. Ward, the work argues that "cultured, leisured Europe" was drifting toward destruction, and that "Those in a position to guide Europe to safety...

. Professional actors (Zamansky, Osipenko, Sokolova and others) were used alongside amateur actors, like in most early Sokurov

Alexander Sokurov

Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov is a Russian filmmaker. His most significant works include a semi-documentary, Russian Ark , filmed in a single unedited shot, and Faust , which was honoured with the Golden Lion, the highest prize for the best film at the Venice Film Festival.- Life and work...

 films, and many of the trademarks of his cinematographic style were already apparent.

Background

The film sparked controversy and was halted by the Soviet film authorities by cutting state subsidy for the film's budget during the production process, so it took time to find money and complete the film. It was nominated for the Golden Bear

Golden Bear

According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....

 at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival

37th Berlin International Film Festival

The 37th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 20 February to 3 March 1987.-Jury:* Klaus Maria Brandauer * Juliet Berto* Kathleen Carroll* Callisto Cosulich* Victor Dyomin* Reinhard Hauff* Edmund Luft* Jiří Menzel...

 in 1987.

Cast

• Ramaz Chkhikvadze
  Ramaz Chkhikvadze
  Ramaz Chkhikvadze was a Georgian film and theater actor. First appearing in the 1954 film "The Dragonfly" , he starred in over 60 films during his career....
  
   as Captain Shotover
• Alla Osipenko
  Alla Osipenko
  Alla Osipenko is one of the most celebrated Soviet Ballerinas. Osipenko studied at the Leningrad Choreographic School in the class of Agrippina Vaganova....
  
   as Ariadna
• Irina Sokolova as Nanny Guinness
• Tatyana Yegorova as Gessiona
• Vladimir Zamansky as Madzini
• Viktoria Amitova as Ellie (uncredited)
• Dmitri Bryantsev as Hector (uncredited)

External links

• Sokurov's website