The Asthenic Syndrome [1989]

The Asthenic Syndrome, Kira Muratova’s audacious, darkly comic and decidedly obscure magnum opus, is considered as one of the most important films to have come out during the Perestroika years, even if, ironically, it was censored and almost banned by the state in direct contradiction to what the term Glasnost stood for. Though not an easy film to watch, leave alone comprehend – facets that have made this a criminally under-watched film – its anarchic power, subversive wit, lacerating humour and underhanded sociopolitical commentary are immediately palpable. In an interesting decision that also added self-reflexive touches to the proceedings, the narrative was divided into 2 unequal halves – the 1^st a film within a film, and the 2^nd the film itself – both chronicling collective stupor, ennui and neurosis of the most rabid kind, reflecting the kind of stasis that Muratova perceived Soviet Union to be in. The 1^st segment, shot in faded and sepia-toned monochrome, is a 40-minute short about Natasha (Olga Antonova), an attractive middle-aged lady whose sanity and stability come crashing down when her husband, an eerie Stalin-lookalike, suddenly dies. The 2^nd segment, shot in colour, comprised of a host of idiosyncratic characters, with the principal among them being Nikolai (Sergei Popov), a middle-aged high school teacher afflicted with narcolepsy. The 2 segments, therefore, blurred the line between the reel and the real. Despite the kind of gleeful ludicrosity that the characters and their social interactions were laced with, the tone was noticeably bleak and morose, thus stressing on the wryly funny but essentially dismal ironies that Soviet life had come to be.

Director: Kira Muratova
Genre: Black Comedy/Social Satire/Avant-Garde
Language: Russian
Country: Russia (erstwhile Soviet Union)