Eyforiya (2006)

Director:

Ivan Vyrypayev

Writer:

Ivan Vyrypayev (writer)

Release Date:

5 October 2006 (Russia)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Awards:

5 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Polina Agureyeva	...	Vera
Maksim Ushakov	...	Pavel
Mikhail Okunev	...	Valeri
Yaroslavna Serova	...	Masha
Vitali Romanyuk	...	Neighbour's boy
Vyacheslav Kokorin	...	Mitrich
Zoya Zadorozhnaya	...	Grandma Nadya
Maksim Litovchenko	...	Andryukha
Madlen Dzhabrailova	...	Mida
Yevgeniya Dmitriyeva	...	Galya
Olga Balandina	...	Lenka
Tatyana Ufimtseva	...	Lyuba
Aleksandr Suchkov	...	Grigori
Yegor Golovenkin	...	Sanya
Aleksandr Shein	...	Mishka

Also Known As:

Эйфория (Russia)
Don (Russia) (working title)
Euphoria (International: English title)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Company:

Pervoe Kinopartnerstvo

Extremely rare and thus extremely thoughtful and pleasant mix of cinema and theater

"Euphoria" is definitely a mix of two directing styles - theatrical and cinematographic. Or you might say two outlooks on life, two points of view on the world. And this mix is extremely rare and thus so extremely thoughtful and pleasant...

Each sequence in the movie somehow reminds us of the theater stage - sometimes this stage is physically limited by some objects (posts, walls, buildings) or totally unlimited with endless plains and sky serving as the theater scenery. And sometimes what we see on the screen looks just like some photos or pictures, still art...

But despite this movie's advantages from the professional point of view the best part of it is the emotional impact it's creating and definitely the ideas it's delivering.

Actually, the whole movie's main idea is summarized by the director Vyripaev himself (who is in fact theater director, actor and playwright) in the first several minutes or even seconds of the film. I'm talking about the 'Disabled-guy- riding-a-bike' scene. It is some kind of the metaphor or allegory expressing director's look at the life itself. That intellectually challenged person is - who would you think? - the personification of any human in general. Just like him we don't have any idea who (or Who) put us on that bike (equal life) and what for. Just like him we can't figure out at first what we are doing in here and where are we heading to. We're confused but keep on moving because it's harder to get off that bike than staying on it. That's why we keep on looking ahead curious - what's going to happen. Later something terribly wonderful happens and we start loving that ride despite the fact that we've already turned away from the road. We start feeling filled with life - that's what is called Euphoria. We are still confused...but happy! Because we just don't care where is the right road and that we've already in the open steppe, plains. We keep on riding, "changing lanes", crossing somebody's lives flowing in the stream of the "mystic river" of the life, looking at the "vanilla sky" of this world...and having good time. This is Euphoria. Through this scene, and actually through the main plot, and through the side plots Vyripaev shows what such a fullness of life and love can lead to - death, happiness, sorrow, birth... Euphoria overall!