Ļimonovs: Balāde / Лимонов: Баллада / Limonov: The Ballad.

LIMONOV: THE BALLAD

Limonov: The Ballad

Italy, France, Spain, 2023, 138 min.

Director: Kirill Serebrennikov

Screenplay: Pavel Pavlikovsky, Ben Hopkins, Kirill Serebrennikov

Starring: Ben Wishaw, Viktoria Miroshnichenko, Thomas Arana, Sandrina Bonner, Odin Byron, Andrei Burkovsky, Maria Mashkova

After Based on the novel "Limonov" by Emmanuel Carrère, publishing house P.O.L.

Poet, revolutionary, lover of beautiful women, writer who wrote about his own greatness, patriot-dissident, politician , nationalist, unbeatable lover - Eduard Limonov has many faces. This punk rock epic moves rapidly through the hero's life in Moscow, New York, Paris and ends in Russia in the second half of the 20th century.

Everything begins in Kharkiv, where the young Savenko has not yet come up with a colorful creative pseudonym, works in a factory, but wants to become famous throughout the Union with his talented and harsh poetry. In search of a better life, he moves to Moscow, comes into his own in a popular creative bohemia, which he thinks is not worthy of his talent, meets a stunning girl and, eventually attracting the attention of the KGB, goes to the United States, where, according to his imagination, awaits him recognition, wealth and a new life...

Kirill Serebrennikov: This is not Limonov's biography. Our film is a screen adaptation of Emanuel Karrier's book, a view of Limonov through the eyes of a Western intellectual. I made a film about a semi-fictional character, formed from the lyrical characters of his books ... That's why the word "ballad" in the subtitle was important to me .... This is a person with an inner drama, inner pain, fragility, vulnerability - he is a poet . But at the same time, there are all the things for which he is both loved and hated, and is perceived as a cult figure...

Critics about the film: Sex is politics and politics is sex in Kirill Serebrennikov's recklessly beautiful, in the stunning and thrilling English language debut. Although Limonov's politics are inextricably linked to his promiscuous hedonism, Serebrennikov's film, made with stunning scope, is more a pleasant romantic odyssey than a political study. Eduard Limonov's strange career - from an émigré rebel writer in New York to the leader of a military political group - is told with passion, humor and the director's characteristic theatricality.

"Serebrennikov has created a film that is imaginative, but completely unbalanced and internal harmonies. Strangely enough, these qualities work in his favor. Because the main character of his film was equally angular, awkward, out of place... Herostratus, a Stalinist, simply egoistic, and incapable of solidarity or empathy. certainly not shown as an example to follow... Therefore, in Limonov's sick conceit, burning complexes and unrealized abilities, the director managed to see the tragedy of a talented Russian who knows how to die better than anyone else in the world, but will never learn how to live.

Original language: English

The translation of the film is provided on YOUR audio headphones* in Latvian, Russian

*To hear the translation, you need plugins, which you can get for 1€ pledge. After the end of the show, when you return the plug, you will get 1€ back at the exit from the audience hall.

On the AllEvents portal you can always Buy tickets to an event Festivals Ļimonovs: Balāde / Лимонов: Баллада / Limonov: The Ballad., Rīga, Kino Splendid Palace October 01

* The description translation is done automatically. There may be inaccuracies. Be sure to check the event description on the ticket store website when buying tickets.