Yuri's Day

Cult theatre maestro famous for modernizing the Moscow Art Theatre with unconventional adaptations of the classics, Serebrennikov has been experimenting with film since 2004. IFFR followed his progress from the start, screening Bed Scenes in 2005. Yuri’s Day is the third film invited to Rotterdam.
Based on a script by prominent script writer and Sokurov collaborator Youri Arabov, Yuri’s Day is an important milestone. Here Serebrennikov breaks free from his theatrical roots (previous films were based on stage plays) and ventures into metaphysical cinema.
The action takes place in the quiet town of Yuriev in Central Russia, with its archetypal Orthodox churches, shabby houses and drunken inhabitants. Luybov (Xenia Rappoport), an opera diva from Moscow, brings to here her son, a twenty-something nerd who does not share his mother’s love for the oddly mysterious provincial charm. During an excursion in a medieval fortress, the young man vanishes… The grief-stricken mother turns to the townsfolk for help and, as her despair grows, she experiences a bizarre physical and spiritual transformation.
'Every year in Russia around thirty thousand people vanish without a trace,' claims Serebrennikov. Based on such horrific statistics, this is a detective story with a difference. The director attempts to depict a drama of spiritual quest and moral redemption. (MB)