''Three Stories'' (russian: Три истории, Tri istorii) is a 1997 Russian-Ukrainian

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Kira Muratova , honorific_suffix = People's Artist of Ukraine , birth_date = , birth_place = Soroca, Kingdom of Romania(now Moldova) , death_date = , death_place = Odessa, Ukraine , birth_name = Kira Gueórguievn ...

. It was entered into the

47th Berlin International Film Festival The 47th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1997. The Golden Bear was awarded to Canadian-American film ''The People vs. Larry Flynt'' directed by Miloš Forman. The retrospective dedicated to Austrian film ...

. The picture won the Special Jury Prize at

Kinotavr Kinotavr (russian: Кинотавр), also known as the Sochi Open Russian Film Festival is an open film festival held in the resort city of Sochi, Russia annually in June since 1991, until it was cancelled in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasio ...

Plot

The film consists of three novellas the plot of which is based on criminal stories that do not have usual logical motives. The people who become killers in all these episodes are the ones who at first glance seem to be completely incapable of murder.

The First Story "Boiler Room No. 6"

A modest employee brings a cupboard to the boiler room for his friend, Tikhomirov. He works as a stoker, writes poetry in his spare time and rents out a place for intimate pleasure to local homosexuals. During a normal conversation between old acquaintances, Tikhomirov time after time returns to the story of his unbearable neighbor who does not let him live in peace and even comes to his workplace in order to compromise him ... Tikhomirov gets interrupted and is not able to get to the point of his request by frequenters of the depraved corner, who by the way also see him as an object for pleasure and even offer money to him... In the closet lies the naked corpse of Tikhomirov's neighbor (she walked around the house like this), which he intends to burn in the boiler room.

The Second Story "Ophelia"

Ofa works in a hospital archive. She does not like men, women, or children: "I would rate this planet as zero." Her attention is especially directed towards those mothers who abandon their children in a

maternity hospital A maternity hospital specializes in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. It also provides care for newborn infants, and may act as a centre for clinical training in midwifery and obstetrics. Formerly known as lying-in hospitals, most o ...

. A

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

makes advances towards Ofa whom she uses for an alibi at the moment she commits the murder of a disowning mother. Her literary ideal is Shakespeare's Ophelia, whose fate Ofa arranges for a single woman – her own mother, Alexandra Ivanovna Ivanova, who many years ago gave her up.

The Third Story "Girl and Death"

An elderly man in a wheelchair operates a coffee grinder. A little girl who lives nearby plays with him, irritating and annoying the old man from time to time. From the mouth of the baby resonates the neighbor's expectation, that after his death she together with her mother will get his room. The old man teaches the girl how to play

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, reads a book to her, and she in turn brings a glass of water containing rat poison. After drinking a cup of water, the old man dies.

Cast

Sergey Makovetskiy Sergei Vasilievich Makovetsky (russian: Серге́й Васи́льевич Макове́цкий, born 13 June 1958) is a Soviet and Ukrainian-born Russian film and stage actor. Filmography Film *1982: ''To take live!'' *1983: ''Ekipazh ma ...

as Tikhomirov *

Leonid Kushnir Leonid (russian: Леонид ; uk, Леонід ; be, Леанід, Ljeaníd ) is a Slavic version of the given name Leonidas. The French version is Leonide. People with the name include: * Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919), Russian playwright a ...

as Gena *

Jean-Daniel Jean-Daniel may refer to: *Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro (born 1992), professional footballer * Jean-Daniel Boissonnat (born 1953), French computer scientist, director of research at INRIA * Jean-Daniel Cadinot (1944–2008), French photographer, director ...

as Venia *

Renata Litvinova Renata Muratovna Litvinova (russian: Рената Муратовна Литвинова; born 12 January 1967) is a Russian actress, film director, and screenwriter. Biography Litvinova was born in Moscow to Volga Tatar father Murat Aminovic ...

as Ofa; Ofelia *

Ivan Okhlobystin Ivan Ivanovich Okhlobystin (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Охлобы́стин; born 22 July 1966) is a Russian actor, director, screenwriter, and former Orthodox priest. He is currently defrocked by the ministry of the Russian Ort ...

as Doctor * Oleg Tabakov as Old Man * Liliya Murlykina as Girl

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Three Stories 1997 films 1997 black comedy films 1997 comedy films Ukrainian comedy films 1990s Russian-language films Russian black comedy films Films directed by Kira Muratova Russian anthology films