Synopsis

The world’s best cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich, who passed away on 27th April this year, and Soprano Calina Vishnevskaya, who proved her recently discovered talent as an actress in Alexandra by Alexandre Sokourov, are a famous classical music couple in Russia. They invited royal families from many countries to splendidly celebrate the 50th anniversary of their marriage in 2005, and Sokourov decided to make a documentary about them. Their 50 years were full of ups and downs as famous as they were: they were prohibited travel abroad for 4 years from 1970 because they let Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn hide himself in their villa and sent a letter supporting him to a newspaper; finally Rostropovich came to America with his family as an exile. Rostropovich played a concert for the spread of liberty in front of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and in the following year visited Moscow with the Washington National Symphony. It was 16 years since his exile to America. Sokourov serenely features their thoughts on music and love while observing the classical music couple together for 3 years in the midst of the big political upheavals of the late 20th century, as shown through their interviews and rehearsal scenes.

감독

알렉산더 소쿠로프

안드레이 타르코프스키 감독의 영적인 후계자로 평가 받는 러시아의 대표적인 감독. 1987년 <인간의 외로운 목소리>로 장편 데뷔한 소쿠로프 감독은 <어머니와 아들>(1996)로 모스크바 영화제 심사위원특별상, <몰로흐>(1999)로 칸 영화제 각본상, <아버지와 아들>(2003)로 칸 영화제 국제영화평론가협회상 등을 받았다. 제59회 로카르노 국제영화제 평생공로상 수상자로 선정되기도 했다. 최근작으로는 <러시아 방주>(2002), <아들>(2005), <알렉산드라>(2007)가 있다.