Ilya Averbakh, Soviet film director: biography, personal life, films

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Ilya Averbakh - Soviet film director, screenwriter and cameraman. All the typical features of a Leningrad intellectual were concentrated in his personality: human and creative honesty, moral stoicism, a reverent and altruistic attitude towards his profession. He belonged to those people for whom truth and truth were worth more than any material values.

Biography of Ilya Averbakh

Averbakh Ilya Alexandrovich was born in Leningrad in 1934. His parents were from the nobility. Mother - Ksenia Kurakina - actress, father - Alexander Averbakh - economist. Both revolved in intellectual circles, theatrical, musical, literary ties were maintained by them throughout their lives. Ilya grew up in an artistic atmosphere, the desire for beauty was instilled in him from an early age.

Despite the obvious creative inclinations, at the behest of his father, Ilya Alexandrovich entered the First Leningrad Medical Institute. Teaching was given to himquite easily thanks to his excellent memory and tenacious mind, but more and more he felt that medicine was not in his area of \u200b\u200binterest. Comparisons with Chekhov, Bulgakov, who were also doctors by education, did not help much.

After graduating from the institute, in 1958, Averbakh was sent for distribution to the village of Sheksna. Here he drank a full cup of unsettled village life: a room with six beds, one bedside table, one chair, amenities in the yard and water from a well.

Find yourself

After completing the prescribed three years, Averbakh decided to completely leave medicine. Difficult years began, during which he tried to write poetry, stories, scripts for television programs. His wife Eiba Norkute recalled that during this period Averbakh often had bouts of despondency and despair. It turned out to be bad to support a family, besides, Sheksna did not dispose to optimism. Finally, one of my friends said that the Higher Script Courses were opening in Moscow. There was only one item in the requirements for applicants - the presence of published works. In a short time, Ilya Averbakh published several reports and one article. In 1964, he entered these courses in the workshop of E. Gabrilovich.

First steps in cinema

Almost immediately after graduating from the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters at the USSR State Committee for Cinematography, in 1967, the film "The Personal Life of Valentin Kuzyaev" was released. It consisted of three short stories, two of which - "Out" and "Daddy" - were shot by Ilya Averbakh. The film tells about a high school student Valentin Kuzyaev, nicknamed Kuzya, whooffered to take part in the program "What I want to become." Vigilant critics sharply negatively assessed the film, seeing it as a slander of Soviet youth, the main character was branded as a caricature of a modern young man, and the director was accused of trying to denigrate reality.

Success

The first feature film was shot by Averbakh according to his own script. “The degree of risk” is the work of a completely mature master who confidently manages the material. The cast is also magnificent: B. Livanov as the protagonist of the surgeon Sedov, I. Smoktunovsky as the mathematician Kirillov, his patient. The drama of the storyline is based on the confrontation between these two completely different people - a philosopher and a cynic. Sedov, endowed with unlimited power over people thanks to his profession, is forced to make vital decisions every day and has no right to make a mistake. He is focused and not prone to unnecessary philosophizing. Kirillov, who is seriously ill and knows about it, does not trust medicine, asks tricky questions and questions the capabilities of doctors.

This time, the critics favorably received the film, noting the incredible skill that Ilya Averbakh demonstrated. The director, however, was dissatisfied with the result. Later, he said that medicine worked out in the film, but philosophy did not. However, "Risk" won the 1969 Grand Prix for Feature Films at the International Red Cross Film Festival.

"Monologue" and "FantasyFaryateva (Ilya Averbakh): films that make you think

There are only seven feature films in Averbakh's filmography, which is probably why each of them left an indelible mark on the memory of the audience. One of these is "Monologue" according to the scenario of E. Gabrilovich, which was released in 1972. In the center of the plot is the relationship between the famous scientist and academician Nikodim Sretensky and his daughter. Leaving the post of director of the institute, he faces his family face to face. It turns out that, despite mutual love, they cannot tolerate some traits in each other. Intolerance gives rise to numerous conflicts leading to alienation. Marina Neyolova, Stanislav Lyubshin, Margarita Terekhova, Mikhail Gluzsky played in this film. In 1973, the film participated in the Cannes Film Festival and received an Honorary Diploma from the Georgetown International Film Festival.

"Faryatyev's Fantasies" is by far the best film by Ilya Averbakh. One of the reviews of this picture is called "Hear someone else's pain." This title is the quintessence of not only the meaning of the film, but of Averbakh's entire work. Alexandra, or Shura (Marina Neyolova), is a music teacher, lives with her mother and cannot find a common language with her. Here again the theme of the impossibility of mutual understanding between close people sounds. Shura is hopelessly in love with the scoundrel Bedkhudov, who cannot make her happy in any way, because he himself is not capable of deep feelings. When Faryatiev, a dreamer, an idealist, appears in the Shura family, talking about some non-existent things as something by itselfOf course, in the life of the main characters, a certain turning point is planned. A new world opens up for them, they get the opportunity to look into where harmony and love are the determining values. The role of Faryatyev was played by Andrei Mironov. It is unexpected to see a merry fellow and a joker, with whom a song about a butterfly is associated, in the form of an ugly, shy dreamer. However, the actor did an excellent job with such a dramatic and complex role.

Alien Letters (1979)

This film evokes associations with the film "We'll Live Till Monday". Here we are talking about the relationship between a young teacher and her student. Vera Ivanovna (I. Kupchenko) believes that she should take an active part in the moral education of Zina Begunkova (S. Smirnova). However, reality shows that her students are real barbarians, for whom other people's feelings are only a reason for laughter. This turns out to be a shock for the teacher, who sees the meaning of her work in fostering the best in a fragile mind. She is horrified to realize that she no longer loves her charges. Letters from Others is a great chamber drama with a great cast and intense action.

Sickness and death

In 1985, Averbakh went to the hospital. He was about to have a bladder operation, as everyone he knew thought. At first he was cheerful, joking, interested in chess matches. However, after the first operation, he completely fenced himself off from all friends and acquaintances. None of them could get through to him. It soon became clear thatanother operation took place. Ilya Averbakh struggled with the disease for two months. The cause of death, most likely, was that the emaciated body of the director could not cope with the onslaught of the disease. He died in his native Leningrad on January 11, 1986.

Averbakh was married twice. The first wife is Eiba Norkute (a specialist in stage iconography), from whom he has a daughter, Maria, the second is Natalya Ryazantseva, a screenwriter. The director had no children in his second marriage.

Ilya Averbakh made films about people's personal dramas. In his work there is no place for general phrases, loud slogans and trivial truths that set the teeth on edge. His characters persistently try to find a common language with this world, which often turns out to be deaf to their feelings. In his films, a voice empathizing with these dramas sounds, they make up the golden fund of not only Russian, but also world cinema.