40th anniversary of Vassa
At the XIII Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), which took place from July 7 to 21, 1983, the premiere of Gleb Panfilov's film "Vassa" took place. I don't know on what day of the festival the screening of this film took place. But why not July 18?
The film is based on the play by A. M. Gorky "Vassa Zheleznova". Those who studied in the Soviet school know that this play was one of the so-called "textbook" works. However, probably not everyone knows that there were several editions of this play, moreover, quite different from each other. The first version of the play was published in St. Petersburg, and then also in Berlin in 1910. A. M. Gorky himself recommended this play to his friends as "a play about a mother." And even the subtitle of the play was "Mother".
Much later, in 1933, Gorky published a second version of the play. Let me remind you that shortly before this, the classic of Soviet literature was forced to return from his "semi-emigration" to reunite with his sick son, who was under the constant control and influence of the OGPU (Joint State Political Directorate). And, finally, in 1935, shortly before his death, the great proletarian writer published the third version of the play. With each new version, the so-called "class approach" was strengthened in it. In particular, in the second and third versions, the image of the "socialist-revolutionary" Rachel Topaz appeared, which was not in the very first version. As a result of the introduction of this image into the plot of the play, the center of gravity in it was transferred from intra-family relations to inter-class relations.
The image of the main character - Vassa Zheleznova - in all versions is based on a real prototype, which was the Nizhny Novgorod businesswoman, steamship owner Maria Kapitonovna Kashina (1855-1916). Her husband, Mikhail Kashin, who before the reform of 1861 was a simple serf, by 1891 had risen to the merchant of the 1st guild. However, wealth and prosperity played a bad joke on him: he spent nights in brothels, drank, debauched, addicted to cards, which, at times, lost entire ships overnight. In the end, Mikhail Kashin was prosecuted for child molestation. Maria Kapitonovna, of peasant origin, who had no education, after the death of her husband, which occurred in 1897, managed not only to keep the capital that her husband did not have time to squander, but also to increase it. After her death, the heirs inherited capital exceeding a billion rubles (in 2023 prices).
A. M. Gorky's play "Vassa Zheleznova" was one of the most popular in Soviet theaters. The main role in the play, as a rule, was played by the most eminent and deserved actresses. The very first performer of the role of Vassa Zheleznova was the great Soviet actress Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya ("Foundling", "Cinderella", "Wedding"), who played this role in 1936. But filmmakers did not leave this play without attention, and not only in the Soviet Union. In 1953, the Soviet film director Leonid Lukov ("Two Soldiers") transferred the performance of the Moscow Maly Theater based on this play to film. In 1963, West German filmmakers made a TV movie called "Wassa Schelesnowa". In 1972, French television people released the film "Vassa Geleznova". Finally, in 1982, the second in the history of Soviet cinema adaptation of the play by A. M. Gorky was made by Gleb Panfilov ("No Path Through Fire"). As in most of his other films, Panfilov entrusted the main role in the film to his wife, the great Russian actress Inna Mikhailovna Churikova.
The jury of the aforementioned MIFF, chaired by Stanislav Rostotsky, awarded Gleb Panfilov's film the main prize of the film festival - the Golden Prize. Some time later, the Soviet cinematographic leadership submitted this picture for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film nomination. But the American film academics did not consider the film worthy of inclusion in the number of nominees. If, nevertheless, Panfilov's picture received this nomination, it would have to compete, in particular, with such films as "Fanny and Alexander" by Ingmar Bergman, "Le Bal" by Ettore Scola, "Carmen" by Carlos Saura.
In September 1983, Gleb Panfilov's film "Vassa" was released on the screens of Soviet cinemas. The film collected 6.2 million viewers at the box office. Somewhere in France or Italy, a film with so many viewers would become the leader of the box office. But in the USSR, the film "Vassa" did not even enter the top twenty leaders. And this can be explained as follows: the film was released in a rather modest edition of 658 copies. For comparison: Samson Samsonov's film "The Lonely Are Provided with a Hostel", which was released at about the same time, was released in 1195 copies, Vladimir Rogovoy's film "The Married Bachelor" - in 1098 copies. And there are many such examples.
And how can we explain the fact that the film, to which the international jury of the MIFF gave the palm of the championship and which was recognized as the most worthy to represent the country in the dispute for the main cinematographic award of the USA, receives almost two times fewer copies than sufficiently passing pictures? To some extent, the answer to this question can be found in the review of the film by one of the most famous Russian film critics, Alexander Fedorov, who noted that the film was shot
"in the era of the strictest censorship. However, instead of the stencil denunciation of the "bourgeois system", typical for most theatrical interpretations of this play, Panfilov's drama of the main character, a millionaire from the "new Russians" of the late XIX - early XX century, came to the fore. ...Thoroughness and quality is visible in every frame of "Vassa" - a leisurely reflection on the fate of Russian entrepreneurship, destroyed a few years later by the fire of the coup d'etat and the civil war."
That's in order to reduce the potential number of viewers who may wonder what kind of world was destroyed by this very coup the circulation of Gleb Panfilov's picture was limited.
An indirect assessment of the merits of the picture of Gleb Panfilov by moviegoers 40 years ago can be considered the number of viewers at the sessions. Today, in the era of the Internet and home movie viewing, audience ratings serve as such an assessment. According to this indicator, the film "Vassa" outstripped many leaders of film distribution in the mid-80s of the last century. 65% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users rated this film from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of Gleb Panfilov's film "Vassa" according to FilmGourmand version was 7.95, which allowed it to take 777th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
