Since Otar Left: Difference between revisions

Since Otar Left
(Depuis qu'Otar est parti...)
Since Otar Left; (Depuis qu'Otar est parti...)
	Film poster
Directed by	Julie Bertuccelli
Written by	Julie Bertuccelli; Bernard Renucci
Produced by	Yael Fogiel
Starring	Esther Gorintin; Nino Khomasuridze; Dinara Drukarova
Cinematography	Christophe Pollock
Edited by	Emmanuelle Castro
Distributed by	Haut et Court
Release dates	20 May 2003 (Cannes); 17 September 2003 (France);
Running time	103 minutes
Countries	Georgia; France; Belgium
Languages	Georgian; French; Russian

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Latest revision as of 19:55, 3 July 2024

Since Otar Left (original French title: Depuis qu'Otar est parti...) is a 2003 film by director Julie Bertuccelli, recounting the lives of three Georgian women in modern-day Tbilisi. It focuses on the attempts of a mother and daughter, Marina and Ada, to hide the death of Marina's brother in Paris from Marina and her brother's elderly mother, Eka. The film was widely well-received, and won the coveted Critics' Week Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The three women live in a run-down apartment in one of Tbilisi's oldest neighborhoods. They endure the realities of modern Georgian life, such as frequent power blackouts and a dilapidated infrastructure. Eka remains the matriarch. She retains an often fractious relationship with her daughter, Marina, but is close to her granddaughter, Ada. However, it is her son Otar that she is most attached to.

Otar Gogebashvili, although a doctor, has recently moved to France because of newly independent Georgia's difficult economic situation. In Paris, he works illegally in construction in order to support the three women. Eka eagerly awaits Otar's regular calls and the money he sends. The generational difference is apparent: Eka loves French culture, speaks perfect French but remains a Stalinist, even in 2002, whereas Ada is Westernized, and longs to follow her uncle's path to the West. Marina has a degree but, due to high unemployment, sells heirlooms at the market.

Their life changes drastically when Marina receives a call from Otar's friend, Niko, who had accompanied him to France. Niko bears bad news: Otar has been killed in an accident. Eka is elderly and fragile, and Marina and Ada agree that the shock could kill her. In a similar manner to the German film, Good Bye Lenin!, released in the same year, they decide to conceal Otar's death.

In order to maintain the charade, Ada forges letters from Otar. Eka grows worried about the lack of calls and absence of money in the letters, but the pair substitute excuses and initially succeed in allaying her worries. Other complications are dealt with, and Eka remains unaware of Otar's death.

After a while, Ada grows reluctant to continue, as she feels that lying to her grandmother is taking its toll. While Ada and Marina consider telling Eka the truth, the eccentric Eka decides that she wants to visit Otar. Before they can dissuade her, she sells her inherited rare French books to purchase plane tickets for them all. Unable to discourage her, Ada and Marina accompany her.

In France, Eka searches for her son. She finally locates his old apartment, and is told the truth by his neighbors. Eka breaks down with the shock, but recovers and meets Ada and Marina, who they are due to return to Georgia. Instead of confronting them, Eka offers them a gracious way out by pretending that she now believes Otar could not make a living in France and had decided to move to America. She suggests that he did not tell them in order to avoid admitting his failure of in France.

At the airport, Ada tells Eka and Marina to go ahead while she purchases a magazine. While they women pass through security, Ada remains behind, as it becomes clear that Ada intends to stay in France. The film ends with their tearful goodbye through the windows of the departure gate.

Cast

Awards and nominations

Award / Film Festival	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
Cannes Film Festival	Critics Week Grand Prize	Julie Bertuccelli	Won
Cannes Film Festival	Grand Golden Rail	Julie Bertuccelli	Won
César Awards	Best Debut in Fiction	Julie Bertuccelli	Won
	Best Writing - Original or Adaptation	Julie Bertuccelli Roger Bohbot Bernard Renucci	Nominated
	Most Promising Actress	Dinara Drukarova	Nominated
European Film Awards	Best Director	Julie Bertuccelli	Nominated

External links

Official site
Since Otar Left at IMDb

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 | music          =
 | cinematography = Christophe Pollock
-| editing        = Emmanuelle Castro
+| editing        = [[Emmanuelle Castro]]
 | distributor    = Haut et Court
 | released       = {{Film date|2003|5|20|[[2003 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes]]|2003|9|17|France|df=y}}
 | runtime        = 103 minutes
-| country        = [[France]]<br>[[Belgium]]
+| country        = Georgia<br>France<br>Belgium
-| language       = [[Georgian language|Georgian]]<br/>[[French language|French]]<br/>[[Russian language|Russian]]
+| language       = Georgian<br/>French<br/>Russian
 | budget         =
 }}
-'''''Since Otar Left''''' (original French title: '''''Depuis qu'Otar est parti...''''') is a [[2003 in film|2003]] [[film]] by director [[Julie Bertuccelli]], recounting the lives of three [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] women in modern-day [[Tbilisi]]. It focuses on the attempts of a mother and daughter, Marina ([[Nino Khomasuridze]]) and Ada ([[Dinara Drukarova]]), to hide the death of Marina's brother in [[Paris]] from her elderly mother, Eka ([[Esther Gorintin]]). The film was widely well-received, and won the coveted Critics' Week Grand Prize at the [[Cannes Film Festival]].
+'''''Since Otar Left''''' (original French title: '''''Depuis qu'Otar est parti...''''') is a [[2003 in film|2003]] [[film]] by director [[Julie Bertuccelli]], recounting the lives of three [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] women in modern-day [[Tbilisi]]. It focuses on the attempts of a mother and daughter, Marina and Ada, to hide the death of Marina's brother in Paris from Marina and her brother's elderly mother, Eka. The film was widely well-received, and won the coveted Critics' Week Grand Prize at the [[Cannes Film Festival]].
 ==Plot==
-The three women live together in the same run-down apartment in one of Tbilisi's oldest neighborhoods. They bear many of the realities of life in modern Georgia, such as frequent power blackouts and dilapidated infrastructure. Amidst this, Eka remains the matriarch of the family. She retains an often fractious relationship with her daughter, Marina, but is very close to her granddaughter, Ada. However, it is her beloved son Otar (an [[unseen character]]), that she is most attached to.
+The three women live in a run-down apartment in one of Tbilisi's oldest neighborhoods. They endure the realities of modern Georgian life, such as frequent power blackouts and a dilapidated infrastructure. Eka remains the matriarch. She retains an often fractious relationship with her daughter, Marina, but is close to her granddaughter, Ada. However, it is her son Otar that she is most attached to.
-At the opening of the film, the audience learns that Otar Gogebashvili, although a doctor by profession, has recently moved to [[France]] because of the difficult economic situation in newly independent Georgia. In [[Paris]], he works illegally on construction sites in order to financially support his family back in Georgia. Eka eagerly awaits Otar's regular phone calls and the money he sends home from France. The difference between the generations is apparent: Eka loves French culture, speaks perfect French but remains a [[Stalinism|Stalinist]], even in 2002, whereas Ada is quite Westernized, and longs to follow her uncle's path and move to the West. Marina has university degree but due to the high unemployment in Post Soviet Georgia sells heirlooms at the market.
+Otar Gogebashvili, although a doctor, has recently moved to France because of newly independent Georgia's difficult economic situation. In Paris, he works illegally in construction in order to support the three women. Eka eagerly awaits Otar's regular calls and the money he sends. The generational difference is apparent: Eka loves French culture, speaks perfect French but remains a [[Stalinism|Stalinist]], even in 2002, whereas Ada is Westernized, and longs to follow her uncle's path to the West. Marina has a degree but, due to high unemployment, sells heirlooms at the market.
-Their life then changes drastically when Marina receives a call from Otar's friend, Niko ([[Duta Skhirtladze]]), who had accompanied him to France. Niko bears bad news: Otar  has been killed in an accident. Eka is elderly and fragile, and Marina and Ada both agree that the shock of the death of her beloved son could kill her. In a similar manner to the [[Germany|German]] film ''[[Good Bye Lenin!]]'', which was released in the same year, the pair decides to conceal Otar's death from Eka.
+Their life changes drastically when Marina receives a call from Otar's friend, Niko, who had accompanied him to France. Niko bears bad news: Otar has been killed in an accident. Eka is elderly and fragile, and Marina and Ada agree that the shock could kill her. In a similar manner to the German film, ''[[Good Bye Lenin!]]'', released in the same year, they decide to conceal Otar's death.
-In order to create the charade, Ada forges letters from Otar. Eka grows worried about the lack of phone calls and the lack of money in the letters (as Ada and Marina are in no position to attach any), but the pair includes excuses into the letters, and initially succeed to allay Eka's worries. Several other complications arise, but the pair deal with them in turn, and Eka remains unaware of Otar's death.
+In order to maintain the charade, Ada forges letters from Otar. Eka grows worried about the lack of calls and absence of money in the letters, but the pair substitute excuses and initially succeed in allaying her worries. Other complications are dealt with, and Eka remains unaware of Otar's death.
-After some time, Ada grows reluctant to continue the charade, as she feels that lying to her grandmother is taking its toll. Ada and Marina discuss possibly telling Eka the truth, when instead the eccentric Eka decides that she wants to visit Otar in France. Before the pair can persuade her otherwise, she sells her library with unique French books collected by the generations to raise the money, and purchases plane tickets for all three of them. Unable to persuade Eka not to fly to France, Ada and Marina accompany her along.
+After a while, Ada grows reluctant to continue, as she feels that lying to her grandmother is taking its toll. While Ada and Marina consider telling Eka the truth, the eccentric Eka decides that she wants to visit Otar. Before they can dissuade her, she sells her inherited rare French books to purchase plane tickets for them all. Unable to discourage her, Ada and Marina accompany her.
-The story resumes in France, where Eka searches for any sign of her son. After several attempts, she finally locates the apartment where he lived, only to be finally told the truth by his neighbors. Eka breaks down with the initial shock, but soon recovers and returns to meet Ada and Marina, as they are due to return to Georgia. Instead of confronting them, Eka offers them a gracious way out of their dilemma by pretending that she now believes Otar could not make a living in France and had decided to move to America. He did not tell his family in order to avoid admitting the failure of his original plan.
+In France, Eka searches for her son. She finally locates his old apartment, and is told the truth by his neighbors. Eka breaks down with the shock, but recovers and meets Ada and Marina, who they are due to return to Georgia. Instead of confronting them, Eka offers them a gracious way out by pretending that she now believes Otar could not make a living in France and had decided to move to America. She suggests that he did not tell them in order to avoid admitting his failure of in France.
-Not long after, they leave for the [[airport]]. Upon reaching the airport, Ada tells Eka and Marina to go ahead while she purchases a magazine. While the older women pass through the security checkpoint, Ada remains behind. It thus becomes clear that Ada has no intention of returning to Tbilisi, and intends to try to make a life for herself in France. The film ends with their tearful goodbye through the windows of the departure gate.
+At the airport, Ada tells Eka and Marina to go ahead while she purchases a magazine. While they women pass through security, Ada remains behind, as it becomes clear that Ada intends to stay in France. The film ends with their tearful goodbye through the windows of the departure gate.
 ==Cast==
@@ Line 83: / Line 83: @@
 [[Category:2003 films]]
-[[Category:2000s drama films]]
+[[Category:2003 drama films]]
 [[Category:Films set in Tbilisi]]
 [[Category:Best First Feature Film César Award winners]]
+[[Category:2000s Belgian films]]