IDFA 1998
Pavel and Lyalya (a Jerusalem Romance)
Victor Kossakovsky
Russia
1998
30 min
n.a.
IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary
An elderly man is on his deathbed. It is the Russian filmmaker Pavel Kogan. He
lives together with his wife Lyalya, also a filmmaker, in Jerusalem. Old friends
from Russia, paying them a visit, are making a film about them. The atmosphere
is relaxed and homely. For example, we see the sound man — also an old
acquaintance of theirs — sitting pompously on-screen with his boom. Neither
Pavel nor Lyalya is really interviewed, and we learn hardly anything about the
background of their life in Jerusalem or about Pavel‘s illness. We mainly see
Lyalya, talking about the daily problems with her disabled husband. She
elaborately combs her long hair and brings back memories of her grandmother. She
goes shopping at the market and cares for her husband. The only thing Pavel
wants now is to return to Saint Petersburg, his former hometown. But Lyalya is
convinced that this journey would mean the death of the seriously ill Pavel. At
least, every day in Jerusalem is one with her husband, she reasons. In the
course of the film, the camera repeatedly remains focussed on the moving shadows
on the wall of the house, when Lyalya walks from the screen. This poetic image
illustrates Pavel‘s imminent decease, because according to Lyalya medical
science has no answer to his mysterious disease, and the only thing left to do
for her is take care of him and support him.
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