Private Life
Vida privada (película de 1982)
1982 · Soviet Union · 102 min
- Director
- Yuli Raizman
- Screenplay
- Yuli Raizman, Anatoli Grebnev
- Music
- Vyacheslav Ganelin
- Cinematography
- Valentin Piganov
- Production company
- Mosfilm
Awards: · 2 nominations
Cast
What it is about
When two factories merge, Sergey Abrikosov, the former director of one of them, is forced into retirement. A lifelong manager whose purpose has always come from work, he suddenly faces an unfamiliar emptiness. His relationship with his family becomes strained: his wife respects him but has little common ground with him, and his son has little interest in ambition. Gradually, shared experiences draw him closer to those around him, though his sense of identity stays deeply unsettled. The film closes on an open ending that invites the viewer to interpret its final moments.
How it was made
Yuli Raizman directed the film and co-wrote it with Anatoli Grebnev, with production by Mosfilm. Mikhail Ulyanov plays Abrikosov, a classic Stalin-era manager, and Iya Savvina plays his wife. Vyacheslav Ganelin composed the music and Valentin Piganov shot the film. Set largely in domestic interiors, it adopts a restrained, reflective tone typical of its studio setting.
Reception and legacy
The film was submitted as the Soviet entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1982, though it was not nominated in that category. Its ambiguous ending has invited differing readings: critic Neya Zorkaya sees the protagonist realizing that his life has lost meaning, while Ulyanov imagined a profound inner transformation. Less known outside the Soviet Union, it remains remembered as a portrait of the decline of the manager figure of its era.
Stills
Trailer
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Full film
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More films by Yuli Raizman
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