Names to remember For me, Yuri Alaverdov’s documentary “Live to the Light” about director Tatiana Mikhailovna Lioznova was a discovery about the life of this great woman. Oddly enough, the name of the director, who began his career as an assistant in the shooting of the film “Young Guard” (directed by S. Gerasimov), and who gave us magnificent films, including “Carnival”, “Three Poplars on Swimming”, “Seventeen Moments of Spring”, now remembers only a small part of the audience. People know movies, but they forget about their creator, and Alaverdov’s film reveals the story of this amazing female director.
The distinctive features of this film include numerous interviews taken from friends and acquaintances of Lioznova: Alexandra Pakhmutova, Leonid Kuravlev, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Leonid Bronevoy, Oleg Tabakov. They all speak of Lioznova with love and warmth, and all give her the definition of a strong, strong-willed woman who has survived many unpleasant turns of fate. These interviews help us to better imagine the life and work of Tatiana Lioznova.
But, of course, the main part of the film is an interview with Tatiana Lioznova herself. Looking at this smiling, quiet and soft woman, which the director shows us in a cozy home environment, it is difficult to imagine that she led the most complex process of shooting famous films. However, despite the success in her career, Lioznova does not hide her difficult fate, but there is no feeling that she complains about it, rather just states as a fact. She recalls with a grin the wording with which she was awarded the State Prize: "For participation in the creation of the film "Seventeen Moments of Spring". “For participating,” she repeats and adds, “It’s funny...”
All her life Tatiana Lioznova worked tirelessly, but by old age she had not gained any other wealth than her films. The director, including in the film a survey of passers-by who answered the question - who is the creator of all famous films, and without receiving a single intelligible answer to this question, wanted to show how undeservedly forgotten the name of the talented director.
Alaverdov’s film, showing the story of Tatiana Lioznova’s difficult fate, gives a feeling of warmth emanating from this great woman who has experienced so much, but still enjoys life.