Anniversary of The Confession
On April 29, 1970, Costa-Gavras's film "L'aveu (The Confession)" was released on the screens of French cinemas. It is generally accepted that this film is the second part of the so-called Costa-Gavras's anti-totalitarian trilogy, the first part of which was the 1969 film "Z", and the third, the 1972 film "État de siège (State of Siege)". But it seems to me more correct the point of view of Roger Ebert, who adds another film to this chain - "Section spéciale (Special Section)" of 1975. But, by the way, these are purely cinematic subtleties, which we will not go into.
2.14 million moviegoers watched the film "L'aveu (The Confession)" in the first year of its demonstration in France. This is not to say that it is a lot. For example, the leader of the French film distribution of 1970, the film "Le gendarme en balade (The Troops on Vacation)" with Louis de Funès was watched by 4.87 million. But comedies have always been ahead of other genres in the number of moviegoers. So, for a political thriller, more than two million viewers are quite a lot.
In December 1970, the Costa-Gavras's film reached the United States cinemas. The box office film in North America amounted to 330 thousand dollars, which is equivalent to today's 2.12 million dollars. Not too much. But not a little, especially when you consider that American viewers are not very keen to perceive foreign films, especially in a foreign language. Why they strive to create a remake of almost every worthwhile foreign film.
American film critics praised "L'aveu (The Confession)". The New York Times columnist Vincent Canby, in a review entitled "Costa-Gavras Depicts a Believer's Betrayal by His Belief" wrote:
«"The Confession" is the real-life story of Artur London, a loyal Communist who certified his credentials by serving with the International Brigade in Spain and with the Communist anti-Nazi underground in France, and by a long term in a Nazi concentration camp. In 1949, Mr. London returned to his native Czechoslovakia from France to become Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Communist Government of President Klement Gottwald. Two years later, along with 13 other leading Czech Communists (11 of whom were Jewish), Mr. London was arrested for treason and espionage and found guilty in what became known as the "Slansky trial."
In short, the film "The Confession" almost with documentary accuracy describes the events in socialist Czechoslovakia in 1952, when the communist leadership of this country almost duplicates the Stalinist processes of 1937-1938, when some faithful Leninists, heroes of the October Revolution and civil war with communist enthusiasm destroyed other, equally faithful Leninists, heroes of the October Revolution and civil war. And at the same time, in fulfillment of the plans launched from the Kremlin, also hundreds of thousands of generally uninvolved citizens. It goes without saying that such a film could not appear on Soviet screens. Moreover, Yves Montand, considered a friend of the Soviet Union, after this film turned out to be a persona non grata in the USSR, his songs, films with his participation were banned.
But what a friend of the Soviet government he was considered to be! The fact is that Yves Montand came from a working-class family. And not just a working family, but the family of a convinced communist who idolized Lenin, Stalin and others like them. And when in 1955 the movie “Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear)” by Henri-Georges Clouzot was released on the screens of Soviet cinemas, exposing the “inhuman capitalist exploitation system”, Yves Montand began to be presented in the USSR almost as a hero of the revolution. And in 1956, Yves Montand, along with his wife Simone Signoret, received an invitation to visit the Soviet Union. Moreover, the program of the visit included concerts, records, etc. And in 1956, as you know, Hungarian events broke out. It is known that these events rather discouraged Montand. There were doubts about the advisability of the planned visit. But he and his wife decided nevertheless to fulfill the agreement. Moreover, as I understand it, financial considerations played an important role. And the fact that Montan did not abandon plans to visit the Soviet Union, while many artists of Western countries expressed their unequivocal condemnation of the actions of the USSR in Hungary and announced something like a boycott to the Soviet state, raised Montand to an unprecedented height in the eyes of the Soviet leadership.
But time passed, and the 68th year broke out: Czechoslovakia. And then Montand, according to the ideas of the Soviet leadership, turned out to be a traitor to communist ideals, having joined the ranks of the western movie and pop stars who sharply condemned the entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia. And not just joining, but starring in the Costa-Gavras's movie. Moreover, Montand himself, however, much later, in 1991, in an interview with Paris Match magazine admitted that he considered this role to be a "something of an act of expiation" for the half-hearted position shown in 56th. (Paris Match, p. 63, 21 November 1991 No. 2217) And for greater persuasiveness and naturalness in the performance of this role, he specifically lost 17 kilograms.
Costa-Gavras has repeatedly emphasized that he did not shoot an anti-communist film, but an anti-Stalinist film. And this is confirmed, among other things, by the final frame of the film, which shows the slogan popular with the people of Czechoslovakia in 1968: "Lenin, wake up: they are crazy." And Montand in this film does not play some dissident or a vicious anti-communist, but quite the opposite, a convinced communist, simply because of the inherent properties of the totalitarian system that ended up in its millstones. And the fact that this film and Montand himself were banned in the USSR convincingly shows that in this country the government never broke with Stalinism.
Roger Ebert, who rated the "L'aveu (The Confession)" with a maximum of 4 stars and included it on his list of "Great Movies", completes his review of the film with such a philosophical conclusion:
"I suppose the conclusion you come to after seeing "The Confession" is that mankind has a terrifying ability to persecute and execute its members on the strength of an idea that may turn out, a few years later, to have been forgotten".
Roger Ebert was not the only critic who praised the Costa-Gavras's film. According to Rotten Tomatoes, "L'aveu (The Confession)" is a rare case of the full, 100% consensus of professional film critics. That is, exclusively positive reviews, not a single negative. As for the audience rating, 66% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave the film ratings from 8 to 10. And against the backdrop of such a benevolent attitude to this film work by film critics and moviegoers - the complete absence of any nominations at European film festivals. Well, more precisely, in Europe, the film received only a nomination for the British BAFTA Award in the category "UN Award". The official statute of this award proclaims that it is awarded "for the best film embodying one or more of the principles of the UN Charter." The palm in the struggle for this prize was given to the American jolly comedy "M*A*S*H", filled with sometimes vulgar, sometimes profane jokes on the subject of military medicine.
And across the ocean, the Costa-Gavras's film received the only nomination for the Golden Globe Award in the category Best Foreign Language Film. But here, in the end, preference was given to the rather standard thriller "Le passager de la pluie (Rider on the Rain)" by René Clément. The American Film Academy did not even pay attention to the Costa-Gavras's film.
So I ask myself the question: what explains the complete lack of cinematic awards for the film "L'aveu (The Confession)"? Is it either the fear of the cinematic circles of the West before the Soviet Union, or the irritation of the same circles with the anti-totalitarian orientation of the Costa-Gavras's picture?
According to FilmGourmand, the rating of the film "L'aveu (The Confession)" was 7,791, which allowed it to take 995th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
