In the spring of 2020, the TV channel “Russia 1” will show the eight-episode film “Zuleikha opens her eyes,” based on the self-titled debut novel by the writer Guzel Yakhina.
For the first time, a work on the survival of dispossessed peasants in Siberia was released in 2015. The novel quickly won the love of readers and the appreciation of critics (of course, some were unhappy). The book has been translated and is being translated into 34 languages, received a theatrical adaptation. The film adaptation of the novel was also not long in coming: filming began three years after publication.
According to producer Anton Zlatopolsky, the project has already aroused interest among foreign distributors, and it is likely that it will be seen not only in Russia.
It is interesting that “Zuleikha” was conceived as a script and was to become Yakhina's thesis - she studied at the Moscow School of Cinema. However, over time, the story developed and turned into a novel. Nevertheless, the author’s work experience in a film-oriented format significantly affected the book.
The novel "Zuleikha opens her eyes" - a work originally cinematic. Dialogs can be transferred to the screen in its original form, and the literary techniques used by the author help the reader to imagine as accurately as possible how the story might look in the picture. All this made it possible to create a film version as close to the source as possible.
In the series, the spirit of the 1930s and 1940s is very accurately conveyed and the author's atmosphere is reproduced, which captures the viewer from the first frames and does not let go until the very end. The key episodes of the novel on the screen were almost literally embodied.
Guzel Yakhin notes this. According to the writer, the filmmakers brought to the screen exactly those basic things that are especially important to herself.
- © Shot from the movie “Zuleikha opens her eyes” (2018)
“First of all, it was very important for me that the voice of a big story sounded in the film. So that this is not just a melodramatic story of two loving hearts against the background of the GULAG tablet, but also the story of dispossession, the story of not only one woman, but all the other dispossessed. And this is in the film, ”the writer explained.
Also of great importance to her was the level of artistic decisions.
“The mythological layer was laid in the novel, and it seemed to me that we had agreed on this in advance, which would be great if the decisions were not cheap, of a good artistic level,” Guzel Yakhina admitted.
It cannot be argued that the plot has not undergone any changes. For example, the director interchanged some scenes. Some moments, albeit bright ones, that help to reveal the characters in more detail, but do not affect the plot in any way (for example, the nail that bite into Ilona’s leg in Professor Leibe’s office) are completely omitted. But all this is completely justified and makes the picture a little more concise and comfortable for perception.
Screen characters are slightly different from their book samples. So, in the novel Zuleikha appears to be a girl very miniature and more submissive than the heroine Chulpan Khamatova. Zuleikha, as repeatedly emphasized in the book, did not need a bed, because "she could sleep on a chest."
- © Shot from the movie “Zuleikha opens her eyes” (2018)
The heroine of Julia Peresild Nastasya, in turn, when read, seems to be a lady more lively in temperament and "Rubensian" in appearance. Nastasya performed by Peresild turned out to be much more elegant and dramatic.
Nevertheless, all the actors, despite the more obvious differences from the book counterparts (for example, at the beginning of Khamatov’s story 14 years older than his character), not only carefully immersed in the images, but also brought in their own features that did not harm the series and his heroes.
By the way, both actresses read the novel long before the invitation to participate in the project and were delighted with the work. Peresild admitted that at one time she had a desire "to someday join this at least in some role." Khamatova, however, thought that the rights to the film adaptation had already been bought, and did not even assume her participation in it.
“Perhaps out of fear. From understanding that this is happiness, almost fabulous, which in life does not happen, ”Khamatova explained.
The actress noted that for her this story partly has a personal meaning: Chulpan Khamatova is a Tatar, she is close and understandable to all the life that Yakhin carefully describes at the beginning of the novel. In addition, among the actress's relatives were dispossessed peasants. At the same time, Khamatova emphasized that for her the events described in the novel and film are not only a page from the political life of the country, but also a story about people and saving mutual assistance.
According to Yakhina, even while working on the script at the film school, she represented Hamatova as Zuleiha.
“I immediately thought that Chulpan Khamatova would fit perfectly, simply because there were no other candidates. Chulpan knows how to combine fragility, and tenderness, and strength, and the inner core, and timidity, and strong character. This all together is what Zuleikha is composed of. And also the purity that Chulpan has in his eyes, in her image as a whole. It’s also impossible to play, ”the writer admitted.
Julia Peresild said that while reading the novel she was thinking about the role of Nastasya. But, when work on the project had already begun, the actress experienced negative emotions in relation to her heroine.
“I realized at some point that I just hate her. I hate everything she does. And the farther - the worse, the more this not just dislike arises in me, but hatred. We wanted her to be like this: she would stop the galloping horse, combat, fire. But the more we went to this territory, that it is also so vital, the more I began to hate it, ”the actress explained.
She added that Nastasya was very fanatical in her belief in the revolution, and Peresild wanted to show how at the end her heroine was disappointed in her views.
- © Shot from the movie “Zuleikha opens her eyes” (2018)
This is not to say that the series looks at one go. Rather, the opposite: for his perception requires a certain mood, the willingness to completely immerse yourself in history and think for a long time.
The creators of the film did not flirt with the audience and did not add any action, humor and other things to the picture to help keep their attention. The narrative in the picture is very slow, smooth, malleable.
Events unfold gradually, without any haste. Sad instrumental music, long scenes, dialogs, art inserts and behind-the-scenes thoughts, even representing almost a full-fledged animation project credits, are all well thought out, verified to the smallest detail and slows down the picture even more. At the exit, the viewer sees an extremely naturalistic and convincing story.
In addition to the documentary plot (the novel is based on numerous stories of dispossessed people, including the author’s grandmother), the strength of the book is the ornate language of Guzel Yakhina and her unique imagery. Transferring all this to the screen in its original form is simply impossible. Therefore, if you raise the eternal question - “Which is better: a film or a book?”, Then here, as is often the case with adaptations, the book will most likely win. The novel seems to be a little more harmonious work and leaves behind a long aftertaste and rich ground for thought. But the series - film adaptation, of course, worthy and, perhaps, the best possible.