The Tuner is a 2004 Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

/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...

 mix film of art house grotesque and a sting comedy. At the heart of Kira Muratova

Kira Muratova

Kira Muratova is a Soviet and Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and actress. She was born in 1934 in Soroca, Bessarabia, Romania . She was born to a Romanian mother and a Russian father. Muratova is known for her unusual and original directorial style...

’s film is her characteristic and enduring love of predation—predation for its own sake. The film offers a complex assessment of the human subject, civilization, and the creative act.

The stars of the film include famous Russian actors such as Alla Demidova

Alla Demidova

Alla Sergeyevna Demidova is a Russian actress internationally acclaimed for the tragic parts in innovative plays staged by Yuri Lyubimov in the Taganka Theatre. She was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1977.- Biography :...

, Renata Litvinova

Renata Litvinova

Renata Muratovna Litvinova is a Russian actress, director, and screenwriter. She was born to a Russian mother and a Tatar father...

, Nina Ruslanova, and Georgi Deliyev. Directed by Kira Muratova

Kira Muratova

Kira Muratova is a Soviet and Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and actress. She was born in 1934 in Soroca, Bessarabia, Romania . She was born to a Romanian mother and a Russian father. Muratova is known for her unusual and original directorial style...

, author of sixteen films over forty-two years, best known in the West for her political rehabilitation during the perestroika period and the un-shelving of her so-called provincial melodramas, Brief Encounters (Korotkie vstrechi, 1967/1987) and Long Farewells (Dolgie provody, 1971/1987).

Plot summary

A former nurse, Liuba, seeking marriage through newspaper personal ads, is bilked by a stranger whom she mistakes for her new date. Liuba’s elderly, well-to-do girlfriend, Anna Sergeevna is defrauded in a different fashion: having placed a newspaper ad for a piano tuner, she is entrapped by Andrei, who is not only an excellent tuner and musician, but also a reasonably good petty thief and scam artist. Andrei and his current lover, Lina, attempting to further secure the women’s trust by returning Liuba’s money, which had been scammed yet again by a second potential husband cum con-artist, place their own fake personal ad in a newspaper so as to locate the suspect. Having returned Liuba’s stolen money, Andrei finally swindles both Liuba and Anna Sergeevna through an elaborate bank forgery scheme—in a word, a portrait of normal human nature à la Muratova.

Awards

• Nika Award
  Nika Award
  The Nika Award is a prestigious annual ceremony held by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences which was established in 1987 in Moscow, Russia by Yuli Gusman, and ostensibly modelled on the Academy Awards . Russian Academy Award takes its name from Nike, the goddess of victory...
  
   2004 for best actress Alla Demidova
  Alla Demidova
  Alla Sergeyevna Demidova is a Russian actress internationally acclaimed for the tragic parts in innovative plays staged by Yuri Lyubimov in the Taganka Theatre. She was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1977.- Biography :...
  
  , best director Kira Muratova
  Kira Muratova
  Kira Muratova is a Soviet and Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and actress. She was born in 1934 in Soroca, Bessarabia, Romania . She was born to a Romanian mother and a Russian father. Muratova is known for her unusual and original directorial style...
  
   and best Supporting Actress Nina Ruslanova

External links

• Trailer and Screenshots