Years and Movies: 1992

Chen Kaige's film "Ba wang bie ji 霸王别姬 (Farewell, My Concubine)" was recognized as the best film of the world cinema of 1992 according to FilmGourmand. The same film, as the attentive readers of the FilmGourmand blog will remember, tops the list of the best films in Chinese cinema.

The second line in the list of the best films of 1992 is occupied by the picture of Claude Sautet "Un coeur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)". The film was released in French cinemas on September 2, 1992.

Claude Sautet acted not only as a director, but also as a co-writer of the film's script. According to him, the plot of the picture "Un coeur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)" is inspired by the story "Princess Mary", which is part of Mikhail Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time".

Roger Ebert rated the film with three and a half stars out of 4 possible. In his review, he wrote about this film: ""Un Coeur en Hiver," directed by Claude Sautet, has the intensity and delicacy of a great short story. It reveals how superficial most movie romances are - because they make love too simple, and too easy a solution. The heart has needs that love does not understand, and for Stephane, perhaps the comfort of his routine and the consolations of his craft are more valuable than the risks of intimacy. As a general rule, the characters in French films seem more grownup than those in American films. They do not consider love and sex as a teenager might, as the prizes in life. Instead, they are challenges and responsibilities, and not always to be embraced. Most movie romances begin with two people who should be in love, and end, after great difficulties, with those two people in love. Here is a movie about two people who should not be in love, and how they deal with that discovery."

Another authoritative American film critic, James Berardinelli, continues to compare American and French cinema, as well as American and French filmgoers. In his review, in which he rated Claude Sautet's film a maximum of four stars, he wrote: "Often foreign films, and French films in particular, are thought of by the average movie-goer as being exceptionally (and some would say "overly") intellectual. This could not be more true than for Un Coeur en Hiver, yet this picture feeds more than just the mind. The rich musical score (Ravel) is a feast for the ears, and the exceptional performances of the principals lead to several emotionally-potent moments. In the final analysis, Un Coeur en Hiver satisfies completely....In Un Coeur en Hiver, strong characters, intelligent writing, and exquisite performances combine to draw the audience into the film's deep, churning currents. Those attracted only to Hollywood's shallow waters may find this picture too intimidating, but for anyone who enjoys a more complex cinematic experience, Un Coeur en Hiver offers an alternative."

Russian film critic Sergey Kudryavtsev gave Claude Sautet's film 8.5 points on a 10-point system and addressed his main delights to the performer of one of the main roles - Emmanuelle Béart: "The young actress admires in the leisurely-melodious (moderato cantabile) and performed with feeling (con amore) film prelude by Claude Sautet, literally riveting attention to herself. You are amazed that such a "genius of pure beauty" could condescend to love earthly men and even be rejected by one of them. Does this really happen - probably only in winter..."

In addition to beauty and acting, it is also admired by the fact that Emmanuelle Béart learned to play the violin especially for this role. Many people take years to do this, and then often to no avail.

However, along with the opinions of the masters of American film criticism, there are ratings of critics with a lower rank, for example, Pamela Bruce, a film reviewer of the AustinChronicle (Austin is the capital of Texas). She expresses the point of view of the viewer with a typical American mentality. Which, by the way, will probably be shared by many domestic moviegoers who imagine themselves to be patriots of the highest standard. Pamela Bruce gave the film two points on a five-point system and wrote in her review: "There are several problems with this film, one being the pace of the narrative, whose plot crawls tediously along during the first half of the film before anything significant occurs. Another flaw is the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia present in the majority of the scenes. This is due to tight framing, and too many interior scenes in cramped, overcrowded spaces. Finally, there are the performances, which are so low-key and passionless for the most part that one wonders if we're at a public library instead of at a film about a supposedly hot love triangle."

Such a purely American assessment of the film of Claude Sautet was also manifested in the fact that the film did not attract the attention of any American film forums. But at festival venues in Europe, "Un coeur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)" received a completely different assessment. Almost simultaneously with the premiere in France, the film was presented at the Venice International Film Festival, where it received a nomination for the main prize - the Golden Lion. Claude Sautet's film did not receive this award: The jury, co-chaired by two famous filmmakers - American actor Dennis Hopper and Czech film director Jiri Menzel - awarded the Golden Lion to the Chinese film "Qiu Ju da guan si 秋菊打官司 (The Story of Qiu Ju)" directed by Zhang Yimou. But Claude Sautet received a whole bunch of awards: the Silver Lion for directing, a special Golden Ciak for the script (together with co-author Jacques Fieschi), a Small Golden Lion. In addition, Emmanuel Béart received the Pasinetti Award (although the Golden Ciak Award for Best Actress was still won by Gong Li for her role in Chen Kaige's film "Farewell, My Concubine").

In 1993, Claude Sautet's film "Un coeur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)" was nominated for the European Film Academy Award among three applicants. But the film academics considered Nikita Mikhalkov's picture "Urga - Close to Eden" more worthy of this award. But the performer of the main role - the same "icy heart" - Daniel Auteuil was still awarded the award as the Best European actor of 1992. In the same year, Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Béart, who became official spouses after 10 years of relations and gave birth to a daughter Nelly, were awarded the David di Donatello Awards from the Italian Film Academy as the Best Actor and Actress. The same award, but as the Best foreign film, was awarded to the film as a whole.

At home, in France, Claude Sautet's film "Un coeur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)" received, of course, 9 nominations for the French Academy Award César. However, it won only two of them, including such an important one as Best Director. In the Best Film category, the French film academics gave preference to Cyril Collard's film "Les nuits fauves (Savage Nights)".

As for the rating of Claude Sautet's film "Un coeur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)" by ordinary moviegoers, 61% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave the film ratings from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of Claude Sautet's film "Un coeur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)" according to FilmGourmand was 8,995, which allowed it to take the 168th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

Along with the aforementioned films "Ba wang bie ji 霸王别姬 (Farewell, My Concubine)" and "Un coeur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)" in the "top ten" of the best films of world cinema in 1992, according to FilmGourmand, the following films were included:

- Unforgiven. Director Clint Eastwood, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,936; 184th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Scent of a Woman. Director Martin Brest, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,375; 378th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Chaplin. Director Richard Attenborough, UK.
- A Few Good Men. Director Rob Reiner, USA.
- The Last of the Mohicans. Director Michael Mann, USA.
- Lunes de fiel (Bitter Moon). Director Roman Polanski, France.
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Director David Lynch, USA.
- Batman Returns. Director Tim Burton, USA.

10 most "cinegenic"*, in our opinion, events of 1992:

- A military coup in Georgia. The first democratically elected president of Georgia, who was a dissident in the USSR, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was overthrown as a result of an armed coup. Gamsakhurdia fled the country and found shelter with the rebellious Chechen general Dzhokhar Dudayev. The coup marked the beginning of a long and bloody civil war in Georgia.
- The end of the Cold War. US President George W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met at Camp David and talked about the end of the Cold War. Before that, the presidents of both countries announced the cessation of targeting their nuclear weapons at the cities of the opposite side.
- The beginning of the 1st Karabakh war. The 1st Karabakh War began with the attack of the Aghdam battalion (Azerbaijani Armed Forces) on the Armenian village of Khramort in Nagorno-Karabakh. Following this attack, the valiant Azerbaijani armed forces massacred the civilians of the Armenian village of Leninavan (Maraga). The massacre was marked by extreme manifestations of cruelty. Azerbaijani soldiers sawed off the heads of 45 villagers, burned many alive, took 100 women and children hostage, looted and set fire to all the houses and left with all the loot from the robberies. According to eyewitnesses, people were tortured (for example, tied to a tank or burned alive), their bodies were mutilated, dissected and burned. Truly, "the unbreakable union of the free republics..."
- The beginning of the Bosnian War. The Bosnian War began on the territory of the former Yugoslavia with the murder of the groom's father at a Serbian wedding and an Orthodox priest by Muslims.
- Explosions in Guadalajara. In the Mexican city of Guadalajara, the second largest after Mexico City, 4 explosions of huge power occurred within 4 hours. The cause of the explosions was a leak of gasoline from a gasoline pipeline. More than 600 thousand liters have flowed away. According to various sources, from 206 to 252 people were killed. More than one and a half thousand people were injured.
- The Los Angeles riot. The acquittal by a jury of four white police officers who beat a black man who violated traffic rules caused mass indignation of the Black population of Los Angeles. The result was mass riots organized by the Black population, which were joined by immigrants from Latin American countries. During the riots, 55 people were killed, 2,000 were injured, and 12,000 were arrested.
- The uprising in Karandiru. In Brazil, an uprising of prisoners broke out in the Carandiru prison in Sao Paulo. The uprising was brutally suppressed. 111 prisoners were killed and 37 wounded.
- The Falcone murder. In Italy, a well-known anti-mafia fighter, judge Giovanni Falcone, was killed in Sicily, and two months later his friend and associate Paolo Borsellino was also killed.
- Archives of terror. Paraguayan human rights activist Martin Almada has discovered the so–called "archives of terror" - documents of the "Operation Condor" of the American special services about their support for the campaigns of the dictatorial regimes of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and other Latin American countries to persecute and destroy the opposition in the 70s and 80s. In total, between 40,000 and 60,000 politicians in South America were killed as part of this campaign.
- The beginning of the Crimean struggle for independence. Based on the results of a referendum held in 1991, during which more than 93% of the Crimean population supported the independence of the territory, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Crimea decided on state sovereignty. The "democratic" Russian authorities ignored the decision of the Crimean population and its legally elected parliament. Taking advantage of the lack of reaction from the Russian authorities, the Ukrainian parliament canceled the Crimean Declaration of Independence.

In addition, Satyajit Rai and Marlene Dietrich died.

* -With "cinematic" in the present context, we mean events that either have already found their reflection in world cinema, or deserve to become the basis of the plot of a future film.

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