''An Independent Life'' (russian: Самостоятельная жизнь,

translit. Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...

Samostoyatelnaya zhizn) is a 1992 Russian film directed by

Vitali Kanevsky Vitali Kanevsky (born 4 September 1935) is a Soviet film director and screenwriter. His film '' Zamri, umri, voskresni!'' won the Caméra d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Two years later, his film '' Samostoyatelnaya zhizn'' would win the ...

. It is the second in a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

of autobiographical films. The film was an

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies ...

between companies in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the UK, including

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

and

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (formerly known as PolyGram Films and PolyGram Pictures or simply PFE) was a British film studio founded in 1979 which became a European competitor to Hollywood, but was eventually sold to Seagram Company Ltd. in 1 ...

. It tied with ''

Dream of Light ''Dream of Light'' ( es, El sol del membrillo, lit. "The Sun of the Quince"), also known as ''The Quince Tree Sun'', is a 1992 Spanish narrative/documentary film directed by Victor Erice. The film centers on Spanish painter Antonio López García ...

'' to win the

Jury Prize A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England durin ...

, the third most prestigious award of the event, at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 1992.

Plot

The sequel of the “ Freeze, Die, Come, to Life!,” this is drama tells the story of life in a provincial city at the sunset of the

Stalinist period Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The story picks up where the previous film in the trilogy left off: 1950s in

Partizansk Partizansk (russian: Партиза́нск) is a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located on a spur of the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, about east of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai. As of the 2010 census, the population is popu ...

, a small mining town in the Soviet

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. Three years after the death of Galya - the heroine of the previous film - protagonist Valerka falls in love with her sister. Already an adult, an independent person, his whole life lies ahead as he begins to navigate his newfound independence and falling in love.

Cast

* Pavel Nazarov - Valerka *

Dinara Drukarova Dinara Anatolyevna Drukarova (russian: Динара Анатольeвна Друкарова; born 3 January 1976) is a Soviet and Russian actress and film director. Life and career Drukarova was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (no ...

- Valya * Toshihiro Vatanabe - Yamamoto *

Yelena Popova Yelena or Jelena is a feminine given name. It is the Russian form of Helen, written Елена in Russian. Notable people called Yelena * Yelena Afanasyeva (born 1967), former Russian athlete who competed in the 800 metres * Yelena Vladimir ...

- Valerka's Mother *

Lyana Zhvaniya ''Lyana'' (russian: Ляна) is a 1955 Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it w ...

- (as Liana Jvania) * M. Aleksandrov * Yelena Antonova - (as Ye. Antonova) * Aleksandr Aleksandrov - (as A. Alexandrov) * L. Dorotenko *

Natalya Ipatova Natalya (russian: Наталья) is the Russian form of the female given name Natalia. The name Natasha (russian: link=no, Наташа), being originally a diminutive form of Natalya, became an independent name outside the Russian-speaking stat ...

* Vladimir Ivanov - (as V. Ivanov) *

Yelizaveta Zhukova Yelizaveta is a Russian feminine given name, and is a cognate of Elizabeth. Notable people with the name include: *Grand Duchess Yelizaveta Mikhaylovna of Russia (1826–1845), the second child and daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia ...

- (as Elisaveta Joukova) * Tatyana Ivanova - (as T. Ivanova) * N. Kharitonov * A. Kopustin - (as A. Kopoustine)

Awards

It was entered into the

1992 Cannes Film Festival The 45th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1992. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Den goda viljan'' by Bille August. The festival opened with ''Basic Instinct'', directed by Paul Verhoeven and closed with ''Far and Away'', directed by Ro ...

, where it won the

. It was also nominated for the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The winn ...

at the

42nd Berlin International Film Festival The 42nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1992. The festival opened with '' The Inner Circle'' by Andrei Konchalovsky. The Golden Bear was awarded to American film ''Grand Canyon'' directed by Lawrence Ka ...

References

External links

* * 1992 films Russian drama films 1990s Russian-language films Films directed by Vitali Kanevsky 1992 drama films {{bio-film-stub