Strong and independent: the film by Konstantin Statsky "Jeanne" was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival

The MIFF hosted a screening of a new work by Konstantin Statsky "Jeanne", based on the theatrical production of the same name.

The central roles in the film were played by Ksenia Rappoport, Alexander Novin and Taisiya Vilkova.

The heroine of the picture is a truly strong woman, accustomed to relying only on herself, tough, sometimes cruel, closed to most of those around her.

Contrary to a possible first impression, there is no promotion of feminist ideas in "Jeanne", the main idea is in the changes in the character of the heroine under the influence of external factors and the environment. 

“A woman is, in principle, a mystery in itself, which men solve throughout their lives.

We really wrote the script for five years, and how many screenwriters we changed - this already speaks of the complexity of the female character.

In principle, it seems to me, yes, it is consonant with the times.

Even if we look at films that are made in the West, about superwomen of various kinds, ”says Konstantin Statsky.

In modern times, Zhanna is the owner of a large trading company.

She has a chic office in the city center and no less chic, but completely "sterile", gray-toned apartments.

There is also a man - a young lover Andrei, who, thanks to his connection with the heroine, holds a high position in her company.

But there is no full-fledged family and children - at the beginning of the film, Zhanna herself speaks about the awareness of such a choice and the unwillingness to acquire offspring.

Returning home from a business trip, the heroine receives unpleasant news - her companion has another and she is pregnant.

The main core of the plot, which runs through the entire film, is the loneliness of the main character - it is emphasized both in flashbacks from the past and in the defiantly comfortable, but uncomfortable and "non-residential" space of the apartment.

The excellent work of the authors with color can also be attributed to the advantages of the tape - Zhanna's childhood and youth, that is, the 1980s and 1990s, are visually sustained in colors familiar to the older generation of viewers from the VHS picture, contemporary events - in contrasting shades of gray , as if adding an emphasis on the "dullness" of the heroine's successful everyday life.

• Shot from the film "Jeanne"

But in the denouement, when Zhanna makes a very cruel decision, with a high degree of probability changing her life and breaking several strangers, the heroine is wearing a bright red coat, which looks like a powerful metaphor - the "red line" that the heroine crosses.

The bright details of the wardrobe appear on Zhanna precisely in the most intense scenes.

According to the director, he initially planned to show the events of the present in black and white, but as a result, this idea was abandoned, focusing on muted colors.

It is intriguing that until the very denouement (and even after it, despite all the cruelty), the viewer cannot give an unambiguous answer to the question - is Zhanna a positive or negative hero.

The character is spelled out and played so convincingly that it seems truly alive, very contrasting - when Andrey talks about the pregnancy of his mistress, Jeanne "saves face" and looks like a real Snow Queen.

“Cold,” she says, pointing to her coffee, which infuriates the man and seems to not react in any way to his confession.

And only after his departure, the heroine allows emotions to break out.

For every seemingly bad deed of Jeanne, there is a good one that sets it off, and for every good one, another bad one.

So, first, the former favorite loses everything he had - work, bank accounts, cars, apartments.

But when he gets into trouble, Jeanne, without hesitation, comes to the rescue, which does not prevent her from continuing to take revenge on her unfaithful lover afterwards.  

• Shot from the film "Jeanne"

Zhanna relaxes, it seems, only once in the film - in the company of an old friend, vodka and a drunken dance to the song Ocean by Gorky Park.

A typical Russian method of psychotherapy for the older generation is a heart-to-heart talk not with a specialist, but with a person you trust - a detail that the authors of the picture specifically focused on.

“People of this generation are probably not inclined to trust psychotherapy.

It is much easier for them, in our way, in Russian, to sit with a friend, to chat.

That’s all our folk therapy,” explains Konstantin Statsky.

The main male role was played by the general producer of the film Alexander Novin (“The Time of the First”, “Norweg”, the series “Awakening”).

Andrei in his performance turned out to be no less convincing than Jeanne in Rappoport - at first a smug playboy, undergoing a transformation from a minion of fate to a humiliated petitioner, trying not to give up, but gradually slipping into hopeless longing.

“You know, I couldn’t help but play (Andrey. -

).

The fact is that I played this role in the theater for nine years.

And of course, I would not give this role to anyone.

That's all," Novin said.

A theatrical release date for Jeanne, as well as a release date on the IVI Originals platform, is still unknown, but according to Novin, the film could hit theaters in January 2023.