Ivette Löcker: When it Blinds, Open Your Eyes
Zhanna, Lyosha and Maria. St. Petersburg 2013. Small apartment. Full of smoke from the cigarettes of Zhanna and Lyosha. Maria is the mother of Lyosha. She provides the two junkies with food – and love. She works, they do not – and yet, Lyosha is seen at the beginning of the film helping other drug addicts. He gets out of the appartment, Zhanna does not except for the ending of the film in a wheel chair pushed by Lyosha.
It is a chamber play of great intensity. A story about despair and misery, but also an intimate interpretation of a couple, who are still alive against all odds. Zhanna is the constant talker, Lyosha is thus more silent, they delve into the past where they had a better life.
It is a film that is difficult to watch was it not for the three strong individuals, who have given the director access to their lives. She has reacted to this generosity by making a non-sentimental, compassionate portrait. As intervals she has decided to have clips from a rock concert, probably thought as a companion in text and expression to the situation of the couple in the appartment.
Austria, 2014, 75 mins.
