Lidia BOBROVA
Лидия БОБРОВА
Lidia BOBROVA
Russia / France, 2003, 97mn 
Colour, fiction
Babusia
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Бабуся

 

 Granny / Babusia

 Baboussia

 
Directed by : Lidia BOBROVA (Лидия БОБРОВА)
Writing credits : Lidia BOBROVA (Лидия БОБРОВА)
 
Cast
Vladimir BARANOV (Владимир БАРАНОВ)
Pavel DEREVIANKO (Павел ДЕРЕВЯНКО)
Sergey GAMOV (Сергей ГАМОВ)
Vladimir KYLIAKOV (Владимир КУЛАКОВ)
Olga ONISHCHENKO (Ольга ОНИЩЕНКО)
Anna OVSIANNIKOVA (Анна ОВСЯННИКОВА)
Nina SHUBINA (Нина ШУБИНА)
 
Cinematography : Valery REVICH (Валерий РЕВИЧ)
Production design : Pavel NOVIKOV (Павел НОВИКОВ)
Sound : Maksim BELOVOLOV (Максим БЕЛОВОЛОВ)
Editing : Tatyana BISTROVA (Татьяна БИСТРОВА)
Produced by : Jean BREA (Жан БРЕА), Andrey ZERTSALOV (Андрей ЗЕРЦАЛОВ)
Companies : Lenfilm, 3B Production
 
Release date in France : 2004-02-04, Site

Awards :
Audience Award Paris International Film Festival, Paris (France), 2003
Best actress Anna OVSIANNIKOVA , Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2003
Grand prix du public et Prix Arte aux Rencontres internationales de cinéma à Paris 2003
Prix Don Quichotte, prix spécial du jury et prix oecuménique au Fstival de Karlovy Vary, 2003
Grand Prix du festival des festivals de Saint-Pétersbourg, 2003

DVD with subtitles
Editor : Blaq Out

Plot synopsis
The film tells about the life of a granny, the ‘babusia’, who raised her children, her grandchildren and the neighbour’s kids in a small Russian village. Now all of them have grown up, have made their careers, and have secured a comfortable life in the city. In many respects the achievement of such a lifestyle was assisted by the money the children received after the sale of the Babusia’s country house.
It would seem all is well, except that Babusia has nowhere to go. None of the children seems to dispose fully of the property they ‘own’ or is really free to do what they want: one depends on the husband, the other on the mistress, the third lives in Moscow without a residence permit. Babusia is taken from one house to the other, from one apartment to the next, handed around like an unnecessary, shabby object. Despite this, Babusia finds the strength to perform a miracle on her dumb grand-daughter, to whom she returns her ability to speak. The heroine herself is almost deprived words, which underlines her similarity to the icon of Mary the Virgin. The casting of a non-professional actress for the role it quite justified: she is an old woman with expressive, spiritual features.
Source : www.kinokultura.com
 

commentaries
Le cinéma russe, vingt-cinq ans déjà..., Marilyne FELLOUS, kinoglaz.fr, 2010
Le cinéma des années 1990-2000. Images dispersées, Françoise NAVAILH, Russie, peuples et civilisations, La découverte, 2005
Lidiia Bobrova: Granny (Babusia) (2003), Birgit BEUMERS, kinokultura.com, 2003
 
Comment by www.kinokultura.com

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Moissons rouges - Caméras en campagne, Saint-Julien en Vercors (France), 2016
- , Pézenas (France), 2015
- Trois Jours de cinéma russe à La Ciotat, La Ciotat (France), 2013
- Sputnik nad Polska, Warsaw (Poland), 2012
- Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema, Pesaro (Italy), 2010
- Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic), 2009
- Russian films in the restaurant Le Lieu-dit, Paris (France), 2009
- Days of Russian cinema in Valence, Valencia (France), 2006
- Strasbourg two weeks of Russian cinema, Strasbourg (France), 2005
- Release in France of the film, Different cities (France), 2004-02-04
- Nantes Russian Film Festival, Nantes (France), 2004
- Festival "Vivat Kino Rossii", St Petersburg (Russia), 2004
- Russian Film Week in Paris : Regards de Russie, Paris (France), 2003
- Paris International Film Festival, Paris (France), 2003
- Honfleur Russian Film Festival, Honfleur (France), 2003
- Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2003
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2003
- "Vyborg" Russian Film Festival (formerly ''A Window to Europe''), Vyborg (Russia), 2003
- Russian Film Week in New York, New York (USA), 2003