Summary
A chronicle of the decline of a family, with a dazzling and baroque staging, far from realism, where Chekhov's theater, the aesthetics of Wes Anderson and Peter Greenaway, the absurd, magical realism and noir are combined. A kind of fairy tale in the middle of the snow, in an imaginary kingdom where some live a curious dimension of time.
Review
The film takes place in an imaginary and icy kingdom ruled by women and portrays a series of New Year's meetings in the mansion of the clan led by Margarita (Renata Litvinova), the scene of growing family and love conflicts after an accidental death.
The film does not hide its theatrical origin, since it is based on a play by Litvinova herself. It takes place almost entirely in the strange family mansion. The death of one of the characters unleashes a kind of curse and growing tensions and conflicts in that family order, steadfastly directed by Margarita.
But the treatment of these conflicts is very far from realism. Litvinova puts on a staging where she combines Chekhov's theater, Wes Anderson and Peter Greenaway's aesthetics, the absurd, the fairy tale, the noir, the magical realism... and the Addams Fools. The decadence of the characters is reflected not only in their dynamics but also in the rarefiedness of the same house always besieged by cold and snow. In a necessarily episodic story (due to its ellipsis that jump from one new year to another), the drama is consolidated when it focuses on one of the protagonist's most recurring conflicts with one of the characters, one of the few common threads between a series of subframes more or less successful. Every family dinner is necessarily a ritual.
From the aesthetic point of view, the setting is dazzling (the costumes are incredible) and at times overwhelming and even bizarre baroque, where we cannot help but notice a certain divism on the part of the director: Renata Litvinova has beauty and talent as if to captivate us with his manipulative Margarita in this kingdom that refers to an imperial Russia and a curious dimension of time.
