Without Witness (1983)
Without Witness (1983)
WEB-Dl 720p | MKV | 934x720 | x264 @ 4085 Kbps | 89 min | 2,93 Gb
Audio: Русский AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps and English AC3 1.0 @ 128 Kbps
Subtitles: English, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Português, Русский, Español
Genre: Drama, Romance
WEB-Dl 720p | MKV | 934x720 | x264 @ 4085 Kbps | 89 min | 2,93 Gb
Audio: Русский AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps and English AC3 1.0 @ 128 Kbps
Subtitles: English, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Português, Русский, Español
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Writers: Sofya Prokofyeva (play) (as Sofya Prokofeva), Nikita Mikhalkov (screenplay)
Stars: Irina Kupchenko, Mikhail Ulyanov, Eduard Artemev
In visiting his ex-wife’s apartment a man learns that she plans to remarry a scientist named Valentin Shlyakhov. In his past, the man wrote a scathing letter about Shlyakhov which greatly impacted his career. Fearing that this information will come to light when his ex-wife marries Shlyakhov, the man insists that the wedding be called off. What follows is an intimate portrayal of the relationship between a man and a woman (who are never named), whose history as husband and wife plays out during a heated conversation.
I was blown away by this film! The title means "Without Witnesses" The action takes place all in one night, within a few hours. Almost perfectly shot, entirely inside an apartment with just two actors. I wasn't a big Mihalkov fan, my favorite film of his was "Anna: From Six Till Eighteen ", which is a documentary. His other films I always thought were either too unrealistic, goofy or historical pieces. This however, is a story that takes place in then-present day. The look of the film is absolutely beautiful, the colors and art design is gorgeous. The script is perfect. A woman sits alone watching a concert on TV when her ex-husband sneaks quietly in and scares her half to death by blowing a whistle on his keys. They then spend some hours of that night together. At first we don't think anything is up, but a deep complex story unrolls before us little by little, one that the characters are already fully aware of, but not us, we must take every single of their words as clues to what they have been through. This movie is at that level of pure genius that is completely the director's own brilliant vision. This film could not be made in the US now, it is completely unorthodox, but here it is alive, beautiful, perfect. The perfect form has been found for it. It is a funny film but then it is every sad film too. This is now one of my fave films and I now appreciate Nikita Mihalkov waaay more than I did before, I now call myself a fan. I am about to watch "Rodnya" by him, which looks similar, another modern-day story. Another film I like of his because of these same traits is "Five Evenings". The acting is perfect. The woman, Irina Kupchenko I found so beautiful and so sad; there is an American actress that looks exactly like her, but I don't know her name or what movies she was in. Ulyanov is brilliant as always, this and "Tema" by Gleb Panfilov are my favorite of his performances, the characters are so original and brilliantly portrayed.
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Without Witness (1983)
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