RUSSIANS ABROAD IN POSTCOMMUNIST CINEMA Lars Lyngsgaard Fjord Kristensen A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2010 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1015 This item is protected by original copyright Russians Abroad in Postcommunist Cinema Lars Lyngsgaard Fjord Kristensen Submitted to the University of St Andrews for the Degree of PhD in Film Studies 18 September 2009 I, Lars Lyngsgaard Fjord Kristensen, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in February 2006 and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in September 2009; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2006 and 2009. Date 13/9/09 Signature of candidate I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date 14.9.2009 Signature of supervisor In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. We have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Access to all or part of printed copy but embargo of all of electronic publication of thesis for a period of five years (maximum five) on the following ground: Publication would preclude future publication Date 13/9/09 Signature of candidate Signature of supervisor Abstract This study seeks to analyse cinematic representations of Russian characters that are portrayed as existing outside the Russian Federation, or ‘abroad’, by focusing on postcommunist cinema and the way it depicts the changing identities that occurred with the fall of the Soviet Union. The assertion of the thesis is that by depicting Russian characters abroad, filmmakers and their films are able to express, or comment on, global issues – such as labour migration, female prostitution, transnational crime and human trafficking, which have risen since the fall of communism. Examining the prevailing discourses (economic, social and political) concerning issues of migration and cross-border travel, the thesis identifies how the cultural capital of Russians traveling abroad comes under scrutiny from receiving countries. The range of films examined spans more than ten years of filmmaking and the study includes an examination of diverse contemporary filmmakers: Nikita Mikhalkov, Aleskei Balabanov, Yuri Mamin, Sergei Bodrov, Leonid Gorovets, Arik Kaplun, Pawel Pawlikowski, and Lukas Moodysson. These filmmakers and their films are selected from various cinematic contexts and filmmaking practices that are considered postcommunist. By asking the questions – who is speaking?, what is said? and to whom is it said? – the investigation is able to reveal the genre conventions, mode of address and specific ideological concerns that underpin the construction of onscreen cinematic ‘Russians abroad.’ The cross-cultural analysis is divided into three parts: first a consideration of Russian filmmakers and their onscreen characters abroad; then Russian transnational cinema, where the focus switches to the investigation of filmmakers who are either floating I freely between national film industries or producing films in diaspora; and, lastly, non-Russian cinema where the emphasis is on filmmakers who have no claims to Russian nationality but who nonetheless make Russian ‘themed’ films. The theoretical framework that upholds the analysis is drawn from cross-cultural studies, postcolonial studies and studies in cinematic representation. II Acknowledgement I would like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council for the 2-year scholarship that I received and the Center for Film Studies, University of St Andrews, which helped me with financial support in the latter stages of the project. Also, the BASEES travel scholarship supported my trip to Israel, without which there would have been no chapter on Russian-Israeli filmmaking. A special gratitude goes to my supervisor, Prof. Dina Iordanova, who saw potential in this project from very early on and kept a persistent faith in the researcher – even when he had lost all footing. The expertise of the co-supervisors has helped tremendously raising the level of the research; Dr Andrei Rogachevski (University of Glasgow) has been a key figure in my academic career and in my grasping the intricate Russian soul abroad; and Dr Elisabetta Girelli (University of St Andrews) has been priceless in spotting, with her keen eyes, connections that I was blind to. The support and friendship from my fellow PhD students are especially important to me – projects like ours cannot be made without hours of long discussions (at times during intoxication) and getting involved in each others lives. For these moments and friendships, I am eternally grateful. Emily Munro in Glasgow and William Brown in St Andrews should also be mentioned. Both Emily’s and William’s willingness to, countless of times, accommodate me (some time with the whole family), on my way back and forth to Gothenburg and St Andrews has made the transnational limbo feel far more homely. *** To my girls in Gothenburg – Jana, Stine and Mari. III Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................ I-II Acknowledgement..................................................................................III Table of Contents..............................................................................IV-VI Framework of Study................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: Introduction...........................................................2-23 1 Framing the Study 1.1 Why the Cross-cultural approach? 2 Structure of Study 3 Definitions 3.1 Who are the ‘Russians Abroad’? 3.2 How is ‘the Abroad’ defined? 4 Postcommunism/Postcolonialism 4.1 What is Postcommunism? 4.2 Why invoke the Postcolonial? Chapter 2: Literature Review ...............................................24-45 1 A Survey of the Field 1.1 Post-Communist Cultural Changes 1.2 Scholarship on Russian National Cinema 1.3 Cross-Cultural Representations and Cinema Part 1: Russian Cinema....................................................................47-50 Filmmakers Representing Selves Chapter 3: Russians Abroad in Drama Fiction ...................51-94 1 Introduction to Filmmakers 2 Urga 2.1 Production and Reception History of Urga 2.2 Different Territories of Love 2.3 Sergei Stays Right until the End 2.4 Urga in a (Post-)Colonial Perspective 3 Borther 2/Brat 2 3.1 The Context of Brother 2 3.2 Production and Reception History of Brother 2 3.3 The Question of Postcoloniality in Brother 2 3.4 ‘Cultural Capital’ and the Bagrovs Abroad 3.5 More Russians Abroad: Marilyn/Dasha and Mitia Chapter 4: Russians Abroad in Comedies .........................95-124 1 Serious Comedies IV 2 The Late Soviet Comedy 2.1 Yurii Mamin 2.2 The Context of Window to Paris 3 Okno v Parizh/ Window to Paris 3.1 Production and Reception History of Window to Paris 3.2 The Magic Window 3.3 Different Russians, High and Low Culture 3.4 Migration 3.5 The Basics of a Love Story Part 2: Transnational Cinema.....................................................126-130 Representation by the ‘Informer’ Chapter 5 Russian Transnational Cinema.......................131-173 1 Russian Cinema and Co-Productions 1.1 The Career of Sergei Bodrov: ‘At Home while Abroad’ 1.2 Transnational Co-Productions 1.2.1. Exile and Postcommunist Migration 1.2.2 Co-Production from a Postcommunist Perspective 2 Russians Abroad in the Films of Sergei Bodrov 2.1 Prisoner of the Mountains 2.2 White King, Red Queen and Bear’s Kiss 2.3 The Quickie Chapter 6: Russian Diasporic Cinema .............................174-211 1. Diasporic Cinema 1.1 The Israeli Context 1.2 Russian Migration to Israel 1.2.1 The First Wave of Russian Immigrants 1.2.2 Second Wave of Russian Immigration 2 Israeli Cinema 2.1 A Road to the Jewish Homeland I 2.2 Another Road to the Jewish Homeland II 3 Two Russian Israeli films, Two Immigration Strategies 3.1 Kafe v’limon/Coffee with Lemon 3.2 Ha-Chaverim Shel Yana/Yana’s Friends 4 The New Generation of Russian Diasporic Filmmakers Part 3: Non-Russian Cinema .......................................................213-218