Goodbye, baby, goodbye Many people who have not yet watched 'Dislike', as usual, began to scold the film in advance. Again, this Russophobic Zvyagintsev is blackening our country. But after the release of the picture in the rental, the only advice comes to mind for everyone who does not tolerate the work of Andrei Petrovich: just watch this movie. After the final shots ' Dislike' to argue about ideals and views is absolutely not desirable. The director himself didn’t seem to want to prove or impose anything – he just made a desperately emotional and ruthlessly truthful film. And the most fascinating: despite the June heat on the street, I was afraid to leave the cinema personally, because the picture incredibly convinces me that the window is fierce January frost, and you just poured a bucket of ice water.
Creativity Zvyagintsev many critics love to compare with the works of Andrei Tarkovsky. But to draw similar analogies in relation to his new film will not be entirely correct. The director made a completely original movie. Is it a joke that if the same script by Oleg Negin, a longtime associate of Zvyagintsev, were entrusted to any other Russian director, we would never have heard of such a film. Because on the same material, a not so talented director would shoot another passing drama for an evening show on TV. This is a realistic story, but ' about life' we shoot anyone. Another thing is that the directorial talent of Zvyagintsev embodied on the screen this scenario almost with the hyperrealism inherent in Alexei German. Zvyagintsev is often reproached for formalism, but to 'Dislike' such claims cannot be made. This film from the first to the last minute with filigree accuracy reproduces our reality, so vividly that it becomes even uncomfortable.
Actually, what is this story about? ' Dislike' allows you to imagine what would happen to the couple from the picture ' Eyes Wide Shut' in a few years. Only if in the last masterpiece of Kubrick, the heroes on the verge of divorce literally fell into a nightmare, then in ' Dislike' the nightmare is embodied in reality. The earth slowly and imperceptibly disappears from under the feet of Boris and Zhenya, and they will remember only when it is too late. Although at first it seems that nothing terrible is happening: think, a couple of times already almost ex-husband and wife quarreled, not for the first time. Soon they will get rid of each other and be happy. Boris has a young mistress who suddenly becomes pregnant, like his wife once, although he promises never to abandon his new love. Zhenya has a rich and helpful boyfriend: with him she seems to be really happy and makes plans for the future. Did you forget anything? Oh, yeah, baby! Surprisingly, according to the conscious idea of the director, not only parents, but also the audience, absolutely forget that the couple seemed to have a child. It is from his face that the film begins, but he literally disappears from the frame long before he disappears from the lives of his parents. The child is generally the central image in all five major films of Zvyagintsev and the fact that in the new film this basis is abruptly lost, destroys the entire smoothness of the narrative, turning the lives of the characters into hell.
In contrast to 'Helena', where all the characters thoughtlessly stared at the TV screen, here everyone is, ' sticks ' in his smartphone. Instead of discussing problems with her husband, the heroine idlely flips through the Instagram feed. Instead of talking to her son, the mother is more interested in social media. Indicative dialogue of girls, which can be accidentally noticed in the background in the scene in the restaurant: 'Girls, can we drink to love?' - ' Let's take a selfie instead'. Indifferent disinterested conversations with a hairdresser or an obsessive colleague at work - that's all the social activity of the characters. And still, such a relationship is much more expensive than communicating with their own son. The director did not have to show scenes of skirmishes and insults of the child - one silent shot with a boy crying silently outside the door, will not get out of your mind until the end of the film.
As in all the same ' Elena' here in the background you can often hear the radio, and in these scenes it begins to seem that Zvyagintsev has lost relevance. From the radio you can hear arguments about the end of the world in 2012 - it would seem that eschatological moods in people have long disappeared and these episodes seem alien. Only at the end, when the TV screens of the characters suddenly appear well-known news anchor channel ' Russia', the author's idea will become clear. Some people say this about relations between Russia and Ukraine. Although in fact we can only say with certainty that what happened to the radio was preparing the heroes - the real end of the world.
7.5 out of 10
Original