Painful Indifference

Infobox Film
name = Painful Indifference


caption = A shot from the film
director = Alexander Sokurov
producer =
writer = Yuriy Arabov
starring = Ramaz Chihvadze Alla Osipenko Vladimir Zamanskiy Tatyana Yegorova Viktoria Amitova Irina Sokolova Dmitriy Bryantsev Vadim Zhuk Ilya Rivin Andrei Reshetin Vladimir Dmitriev
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Lenfilm
released = 1983 (completed production), 1987
runtime = 110 minutes
country = USSR
language = Russian
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0124127

"Painful Indifference" (Russian: Скорбное бесчувствие) is the third produced film by Alexander Sokurov, completed in 1983, but the fourth released one, as it was banned by Soviet authorities until perestroika in 1987. The film is a juxtaposition of World War I and an insane asylum, inspired by Bernard Shaw's play "Heartbreak House". Professional actors (Zamansky, Osipenko, Sokolova and others) were used alongside amateur actors, like in most early Sokurov films, and many of the trademarks of his cinematographic style were already apparent.

Background

The film sparked controversy and was halted by the Soviet film authorities by cutting state subsidy for film's budget during the production process, so it took time to find money and complete the film. It was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival.

ources

* [http://sokurov.spb.ru/island_ru/feature_films/skorbnoe_beschuvstvie/mnp_skb.html Sokurov's website]
*imdb title|id=0124127|title=Painful Indifference