Soul (film)
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| Soul | |
|---|---|
 Original film poster |
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| Produced by | Alexander Stefanovich |
| Written by | Alexander Borodyansky, Alexander Stefanovich |
| Starring | Sofia Rotaru Mikhail Boyarsky |
| Music by | Alexander Kutikov, Andrei Makarevich |
| Distributed by | Mosfilm |
| Release date(s) |  1 January 1981 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Country | USSR, Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Budget | $,000,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | $,000,000 (Worldwide) |
| IMDb profile | |
Soul (Russian: Душа/Dusha) is a 1981 Soviet musical drama film written by Alexander Borodyansky and directed by Alexander Stefanovich, starring Sofia Rotaru in the main role, as well as Mikhail Boyarsky and the musical band Mashina Vremeni (Time Machine). The movie features break-through new style rock songs performed by Sofia Rotaru, Mikhail Boyarsky and Mashina Vremeni, as well as substantial philosophical dialogue scenes, regarding the self-criticism of an artist, the existential approach to the golden mean between artistic creation and respect for human dignity.
The movie featured the first Soviet musical video with jumping on a trampoline Sofia Rotaru and Mikhail Boyarsky in stretch golden fabrics, turned into a 1981 blockbuster and was watched by 45 million cinema goers in the Soviet Union.[1] In December 2001, before the opening of the Moscow concert programme "My Life is My Love", cinema enterprise "Krupny Plan" (Close-Up in English) released the video version of the movie which became 5th in the Soviet distribution.[2]
During the film, son of Sofia Rotaru was threatened to be taken hostage and was hidden in one of the Crimean villas[3]. Both the scenario and particularly the role of Viktoria Slobodina were specially written for Sofia Rotaru, the Soviet singer. In fact, the story deals with the singer's physical health problems (inflammation of vocal cords).
The story is set by the sea at Sofia Rotaru's house in Yalta) and in Germany (where Sofia Rotaru recorded at that time many of her albums), as well as at international song festivals, where Sofia Rotaru participated as well. The freshly divorced Stefanovich invited Sofia Rotaru, whereas other Russian singers failed the casting[4].
The heroine learns before an International song festival that due to an illness she may lose her voice. An acquaintance helps her to avoid this situation. The main hero Viktoria Svobodina, performed by Sofia Rotaru, decides to start singing in a new manner, and once on the festival's stage she wins the grand prix. The film contributed to press rumours regarding the loss of Rotaru's voice. Sofia Rotaru did in fact suffer from vocal cords' inflammation, just as her heroine in the movie had a voice problem, but this was never confirmed by a medical certificate in the real life.
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[edit] Plot
Viktoria Svobodina is a young but already well known popular singer in the Soviet Union, living in Moscow. Her popularity reaches the heights whilst the band she is performing with remains in the shadows. At an important live concert the band turns off the sound, but Viktoria keeps singing the song, changing the lyrics into "I will sing till the end". As they are returning from the concert she stops the car and tears off the posters of herself on the walls of the concert hall and leaves the band. So does her beloved Igor, living her for an independent career of his own, eventually ending up playing piano in a small café.
As her career grows, her producer arranges new concert performances for her. However, something starts going wrong with the voice of the singer. After a thorough medical examination, the doctor forbids her to sing for at least three months or else she would lose her voice completely. She decides to make a break and informs her producer, as she receives an invitation to sing at an important state concert. She concedes to requests and performs in the Kremlin, as she was not informed that the concert will be aired live on major Soviet television channels. She also receives a telephone call from an old school friend who invites her to the recording of the new song in duet in Saint-Petersburg. After the recording Viktoria meets with her old friend again and learns that he is playing in a rock band. She visits incognito their rock concerts and considers this new music style. Her producer learns that she is in fact singing, whereas he persuaded all the other clients to postpone their requests for her to perform.
Viktoria finally decides to take a break and leaves for a summer resort on the sea shore. The name of the movie comes from the dialog which takes place in the middle of the movie between Viktoria and an older stranger at this isolated vacation resort, during a sea stroll on a pier. Viktoria confesses her fears of losing her voice and the stranger comforts her saying that the songs of a singer live as long as the soul of the singer remains alive. This is when Viktoria asks: "Soul? But where is this soul?". Her producer finally finds her here, even though she was hiding anonymously. An important international song competition is going to take place in Germany and she was selected to represent the country.
Viktoria had no choice and left the resort immediately with the producer. To go to the competition she needed however a new band, and the producer found her an unknown one, playing on the outskirts of Moscow rock band (role played by Time Machine). Viktoria meets for the first time the band and recognizes the main player - her old school friend, although they do not make a sign of it in front of the producer. The first meeting with the whole group was not successful as they wanted to keep their music style and saw Svetlana's proposal of collaboration as a mere circumstantial choice of the top Soviet artist. Nevertheless, rehearsals begin, and that's precisely at this part of the movie, where the first Soviet modern musical video clip was made with Sofia Rotaru, Mikhail Boyarsky and Mashina Vremeni band, all dressed in futuristic costumes made of tight shiny stretchy fabric, jumping on the trampoline.
Alexander Stefanovich, "Mosfilm" producer, (1976—1980):
| “ | The interesting thing about the movie, is that we were filming the first, probably the first in the Soviet Union video clip. We have dressed our artists in golden and silver costumes which were sewn up from up to down. The trampoline was installed underneath, and as they were jumping, we were filming as they were singing in the air, as they were flying. This was an overwhelming scene for viewers - nobody understood how did we manage to make it.[5] | ” |
Viktoria leaves with the new band for Germany for the international song festival Intermusik. During the days preceding her appearance, she falls in love with her old friend, and separates from her producer, who saw in her a mere glory machine. During a travel in the North Sea on a yacht she breaks down with a sharpening of her illness. The German doctor present on board detects the true reason - her ill voice and lungs, and advises her to stop singing immediately. Viktoria asks him to be silent and appears on the stage during the competition, where she wins. The last scene of the movie is ambiguous, as according to one interpretation she loses her voice completely after, and according to another - the final accord is the victory at the competition.
[edit] Cast
- Sofia Rotaru as the famous singer Viktoria Svobodina[6] in search of new herself and finding the limits of artistic growth and human person's capacities. Coming off some success with the Where Has Love Gone?, Sofia Rotaru was looking for a role with dramatic depth. The role is also autobiographical as namely starting from early 80's Sofia Rotaru engaged in new pop styles, including europop and hard rock. Just as the heroine of the movie Svetlana, Sofia also underwent a surgeon's intervention on her vocal cords.
- Rolan Bykov as Svetlana's manager Albert Leonidovich. He achieves to fully express his hero - a musical producer, ready to speculate on anything, including Svetlana's health, in order to find and fit in with the latest music trends.
- Mikhail Boyarsky as Vadim Starych, soloist of the band Mashina Vremeni (as in the movie), old friend of Viktoria with whom she recorded a the song "The Weather Is Not to Blame" in Saint-Petersbourg, where she took all her pleasure, making much more than necessary double recordings of the song. Viktoria gets closer with Vadim, and, in spite of their different music styles, they make a winning team at the competition in Germany and in their personal relations.
- Vyacheslav Spesivtsev as Serguey, boyfriend of Viktoria Svobodina in her first band. As Viktoria was becoming the first Soviet star, the band playing for her would go unnoticed. Before the band leaves Viktoria, Serguey decides to leave her also, reproaching her the lack of time for the development of his personal career. Viktoria meets Serguey as he ends up singing in a café of a small town a couple of months later, before she heads off for Germany.
- Ivars Kalnini as translator of Viktoria while in Germany and her confidence friend who kept the secret of her voice illness as he accidentally learned it being on the yacht during the outbreak of Viktoria's illness.
- Leonid Obolensky as an old man who meets Viktoria at the secluded sea resort and tells her the meaning of the soul and importance of the artistic creation.
- Mashina Vremeni as its real life members: Valerii Efremov, Alexander Kutikov, Andrei Makarevich, Piotr Podgorodetsky, Ovanes Melik-Pashaev.
[edit] Production
At the same time, the movie played a bad joke with the actors. As the whole country was singing "Ya pyu do dna" (I drink to the dregs), Komsomolskaya Pravda published the article called "False Soul". As a result, "Mashina Vremeni" was not allowed to sing during five years on the stages in Moscow. As far as Sofia Rotaru was concerned, rumors that the singer had completely lost he voice became even multiplied.
Sofia Rotaru sings in the movie herself, however all the speech is recorded by a different voice. In fact, another actress had recorded her voice for dialogs, for the only reason: Sofia's Moldavian accent. Compare to the role played in the movie, Sofia Rotaru did not have to leave the stage. The voice, slightly damaged by one timbre during the operation, fully came back.
- Writers: Alexander Borodyansky, Alexander Stefanovich
- Director: Alexander Stefanovich
- Producer: Alexander Stefanovich
- Cameraman-producer: Vladimir Klimov
- Painter-producer: Alina Speshneva
- Music: Alexander Zatsepin
- Sound operator: V. Babushkin, V. Ladyguina
- Producers: V. Kovaleva, M. Maksimchyuk
- Cameramen:V. Kromas, A. Naydyonov
- Costumes decorator: V. Ptitsin
- Cutter: E. Tobak
- Make-up: M. Agafonova
- Trick photography: Cameraman: A. Dvigubsky, Painter: P. Khurumov
- Editor: E. Ermolin
- Music editor: A. Belyaev
- Film director: Gueorgy Pastushkov
[edit] Soundtrack
Songs were composed and written by leading Soviet authors as Robert Rozhdestvensky, Igor Kokhanovksy and composers as Alexander Zatsepin and members of Mashina Vremeni: Andrei Makarevich, Alexander Kutikov.[7] The part of the movie filmed in Germany has also Antonio Vivaldi works in the background sound.
| N°[8] | Song | Performed by | Authors | Commentaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | My Song (instrumental version) Russian: Моя песня/Moya pesnya |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Robert Rozhdestvensky Music: Alexander Zatsepin |
first performed in the movie Soul, not released in an album |
| 2 | I Live Hoping Russian: Живу надеждой/Zhivu nadezhdoy |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Igor Kokhanovsky Music: Alexander Zatsepin |
first performed in the movie Soul twice, not released in an album |
| 3 | The Weather Is Not to Blame Russian: Дело не в погоде/Delo ne v pogode |
Sofia Rotaru, Mikhail Boyarsky | Lyrics: Igor Kokhanovsky Music: Alexander Zatsepin |
first performed in the movie Soul, not released in an album |
| 4 | (the) Right Russian: Право/Pravo |
Mashina Vremeni | Lyrics: Andrei Makarevich Music: Andrei Makarevich |
first performed in the movie Soul, not released in an album |
| 5 | My Song Russian: Моя песня/Moya pesnya |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Robert Rozhdestvensky Music: Alexander Zatsepin |
first performed in the movie Soul twice: instrumental version in the opening titles and a cappella as the first band of Viktoria turned off the sound for the song Living With Hope during a concert; not released in an album |
| 6 | Running Around Russian: Бег по кругу/Beg po krugu |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Andrei Makarevich Music: Andrei Makarevich |
first performed in the movie Soul, not released in an album |
| 7 | Who Did You Want to Surprise Russian: Кого ты хотел удивить/Kogo ty hotel udivit' |
Mikhail Boyarsky, Mashina Vremeni | Lyrics: Andrei Makarevich Music: Andrei Makarevich |
first performed in the movie Soul, not released in an album |
| 8 | Barrier Russian: Барьер/Barier |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Andrei Makarevich Music: Andrei Makarevich |
first performed in the movie Soul, not released in an album |
| 9 | (the) Way Russian: Путь/Put' |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Andrei Makarevich Music: Andrei Makarevich |
first performed in the movie Soul, not released in an album |
| 10 | Fire Russian: Костёр/Kostyor |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Andrei Makarevich Music: Andrei Makarevich |
first performed in the movie Soul, also exists in studio recording |
| 11 | For Those Who Are In the Sea Russian: За тех, кто в море/Za teh kto v more |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Andrei Makarevich Music: Alexander Kutikov |
first performed in the movie Soul with famous refrain: I Drink to the Dregs Russian: Я пью до дна/Ya pyu do dna, not released in an album, also exists in duet concert version performed by Sofia Rotaru and Mashina Vremeni; played second time in the movie with closing titles |
| 12 | Tribute to John Lennon Russian: Памяти Джона Леннона/Pamyati Dzhona Lennona |
Sofia Rotaru | Lyrics: Andrei Makarevich Music: Andrei Makarevich |
first performed in the movie Soul, not released in an album, closing song in the movie |
[edit] Gallery
 Sofia Rotaru and Mihail Boyarskiy |
 Sofia Rotaru and Mihail Boyarski in the first Soviet music video |
 Sofia Rotaru and Mihail Boyarski during the rehearsal |
 Sofia Rotaru performing solo |
[edit] References
- ^ Sofia Rotaru, Alexandr Stefanovich. (January 2008). Sofia Rotaru: Secrets of Her Success. INTER. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
- ^ Artistic Path. Rotarunews, Roman Shulga, Elena Karpova (2004-01-01). Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
- ^ Sofia Rotaru, Alexandr Stefanovich. (January 2008). Sofia Rotaru: Secrets of Her Success. INTER. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
- ^ Mikhail Boyarsky: "I am reading "Bulba" - and I am crying!". Trud (2006-12-28). Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ Sofia Rotaru: Secrets of Her Success (2008-01-07). Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
- ^ The root of Svobodina is "Svoboda" (Russian: Свобода - English: Freedom), which is highly symbolical in the movie as the singer reaches new freedom in her artistic expression and decides to sing even when it is fatal to her.
- ^ List of tracks form the movie "Soul"
- ^ Chronological order
[edit] External links
- Soul at the Internet Movie Database
- Filmography of Sofia Rotaru
- Soul at kinox.ru
- kino-teatr.ru
- History of film Soul
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