Viddana

A costly costume drama which cost a fortune to Ukrainian taxpayers (state support for the cinematography which compensates for a half of production budget) but vanishes in the distant fringes of memory. Though the author of the novel upon which the movie is based on is one of the scriptwriters, the piece is the pale semblance of her pretty decent story. Characters are shallow. With all respect for the Polish actress who performs Stephanie, it remains an enigma for me why a casting director could not find a Ukrainian for this role. Scene backgrounds seem to be plastered on a canvass; at least the crew told stories they could not find proper locations because all Ukrainian cities in the West are tarred with plastic window frames which could not be found in Austrian-Hungarian empire. The only solace is that it takes time and quantity to hone skills in domestic cinema production. This movie is just a humus for future Ukrainian blockbasters.

On my way to the cinema I was expecting to see something more like a love triangle drama, but it's not even close to it. Actually, it is not close to anything I have ever seen. This movie is so different in all kinds of ways. It is funny, and sad, and a bit mysterious, a bit weird, has something from a fairy tale and very realistic at the same time. The actors are brilliant, the picture is colorful, cinematography is great, and costumes, and music, everything about it is fantastic! I don't really want to say much about the story, it is better to see it without any clue about the plot, I will just say that this is about complicated relationship between two people, who share a deep connection, and it is about a path to freedom for both of them, to make this connection less painful and ill. I absolutely loved it!

The The film didn't reflect what we were promised by the trailer. The animation and characters were so bizarre. Also, the ending of the film was weird 😕

This story attracts and keeps attention from the very beginning. Beautifully made movie with a strong message! Recommend to watch it!

Let me start with saying that this movie looks fine. In fact one of the earliest scenes in the movie definitly draws you in like bees to a flower.

It's too bad that the movie hits its peak so early. Because from that point, if you haven't read the book, you are basically trapped in a soap opera. This movie has all the tropes and the twists of a Hallmark movie.

In fact, they might buy the rights to distribute it.

Now what I liked about the movie: the music and the look of the movie in some scenes are some of the best. They really do much with the budget it has. The dresses, the hair, the house the story spends most of it's time in, it all looks great, too bad that you never see more.

Now, what I did not like is: the writing. This is where I said that the readers of the book might enjoy this movie more: because if they had to cut scenes from book, then maybe they night all tie together. But in this movie, it's all just a random mess in the end with an unreliable narrator with a character who from the very beginning could be crazy but now you are at the final pages and realizing: oh my good, this character could be crazy.

To put it into perspective: This movie is good set up for drama but it drops the ball at the end.

In the end, it rushes through everything to cover all lose ends.

Sorry but this movie gets just a : it's fine... I guess.

Just go read the book and I think you might enjoy this better.