Come look at me
Production director: Mikhail Agranovich, Oleg Yankovskiy
Written by:
based on the novel “While she was dying” by
Director of Photography:
Production Designers: ,
Music by:
Sound Producer: <
Film Editor:
Script Editors: Irina Yashina, Eleanor Zakoshanskaya
Costume Designer:
Production Manager: Valentina Zaytseva
Producers: ,
General Producers: Igor Tolstunov,
Romance “Come look at me”. Lyrics by Anna Akhmatova. Music by Vadim Bibergan
Produced by: NTV-PROFIT, Gorky Film Studio with the support of the State Cinema Committee of the Russian Federation
Cast: , , , , Ivan Yankovsky, Mark Rudinstein
Synopsis
In the city on the New Year´s Eve apartment windows are decorated with the string lights that sparkle with different colors. It seems that behind each of these windows people are celebrating their favorite holiday. It seems that they hope for fulfillment of desires on the New Year.
Neighbors of the old block of flats in Moscow got used to see permanently a silhouette of an elderly woman behind one of the windows. Sofia Ivanovna haven´t risen from her chair for ten years, day after day she´s been looking out of the window, making weird figures from paper and glue and listening to Dickens read out loud by her only daughter Tanya.
It looks like years have been passing by slowly in this old apartment where antique neckbands of great-grandmothers and half-forgotten family jewelries with none to inherit them are being stored in dusty boxes for hats. The only heiress, Tanya, who was supposed to leave the jewelry to her daughter, seems to have reconciled to become an old maid, because she lives only to take care of her sick mother.
These women would have probably spent together many more lonely years in the cozy apartment in silence if Sofia Ivanovna hadn´t prepared … to die. She announced her daughter on that matter and added that she only regrets to leave her absolutely alone.
New year was approaching; Sofia Ivanovna wished for her daughter to be happy so ardently, and Tanya wanted her mother to find peace in her soul, so that wonders began to work outside of the window of the old Moscow apartment the most.
Much to Sofia Ivanovna's surprise her modest daughter is quite something, early in life she even liked to dance on the tables! And a certain man in full bloom named Igor, who has a village on the Canary Islands and a young mistress, happens to like this half-mad old maid who poured champagne over his expensive suit and made him to become engaged under the Dickens's portrait. Furthermore a neighbors’ boy, who looks like a bully-Cupid, laid banana peels at the entrance and completely messed all events. And just when the bells were about to chime, a shop assistant from grocery store told Sofia Ivanovna remarkable news that made her finally decide not to die, not any time soon anyway.
For the first time in a long period on the New Year’s Eve neighbors didn't see the silhouette of the elderly woman sitting at the window, this time miracles were happening in the old Moscow apartment like everywhere else.
Awards
2001: I Film Festival “goEast” in Wiesbaden – jury’s choice
2001: The Film Festival “Sozvezdie” – Best actress ()
2001: XII Open Russian Film Festival “Kinotavr” – Best actor ()
2001: VIII International Film Festival of CIS and Baltic countries “Listopad” - Grand prize “Golden Maple Leave”; Special Prize “For the on-going humanistic tradition in cinematography; Film press prize - best actress
2001: I Russian Films Festival “the Russian way to love” – “Best Director”, “Best main part”
2002: XIII The International Film Festival “Golden knight” – “Best cast”
2004: The International Film Festival “Love is madness” (Sofia, Bulgaria) – Jury’s special prize
Nominations
2001: The Nika Award of the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences – “Best actor” (); Best actress ()
2001: TheRussian National Film Critics and Press Award “Golden Aries” – “Best film-debut”; “Best actress”
Participation in festivals
2001: VII International Film Festival “Faces of love” – the opening film
2001: VII Russian Film Festival “Literature and cinema” in Gatchina
2001: 36th International Film Festival “From West to East” (Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic)
