At the Children's and Youth Film Festival in Moscow, Olesya Yanushkevich received the prize for the best debut. She played the leading role in Aleksandr Karpov's film "Gomunkulus".
You probably haven't seen this film yet, but you should definitely watch it - perhaps there will be fewer terrible, unhappy letters about loneliness and orphanhood, about hatred of parents in our mail.
Never before has the young movie star been so accessible: she lives and studies, judging by the credits, in Minsk fourth boarding school ... however the cinema, as usual, deceives us about reality: no Olesya isn't an orphan and has no relation to movie stars. She is a student of a pedagogical college. But students, like the most famous actors, also lack time. However, if there is a desire, one can find it. And her desire was great, and Olesya is a responsive person.
So we met. She entered, big and bright, but took off her fur coat, a colorful scarf, sat down in an armchair, and seemed to shrink: she was internally preparing for the conversation and did not at all resemble the best festival actress, rather, like a well-prepared excellent student at an exam. The first question, of course, was about the college: why not a theater institute, but a faculty of preschool education?
— I applied to the theater, of course ... Right after the tenth grade, 25 people for a spot, I was cut in the first round, and to avoid losing a year, I went to pedagogy. I almost didn’t worry, probably because I didn’t want to be an actress. I liked being a director more. You read some book, “Til Eulenspiegel,” for example, and you so vividly imagine the movie! It seems to me I would be a good director, especially of historical films. But what kind of directing can one talk about if you can’t break into the theater? Next year I will try again. If it doesn’t work out, I will go to university for biology, I have been interested in biology since school.
— So, you didn’t even think about cinema, but how did you become an actress?
— By an advertisement in the newspaper. I came to the film studio, there were photo tests, then screen tests. They asked me to portray hysteria, but it turned out weak. Still, I was selected. My parents were very happy, but when the work began — they regretted it. I was so tired that at home I didn’t have the strength to eat, let alone change clothes. In six months, I lost 7 kg. Now I can’t seem to gain weight. During filming, I really wanted to go to school, but only Saturdays were free. I flew to school as if on wings. There — everyone is my own, there are friends, there it’s calm. At first, I had this proud feeling, like, I am an actress, but then I thought: well, how am I better than the others? And everything fell into place.
The girl that Olesya played was named Venya, she lived in an orphanage. She was very angry at her parents for abandoning their children, depriving them of a normal life, home warmth, and maternal love. And she imagined that children should be conceived in test tubes — then the problem disappears. There is no one to blame, no one to love, no one to be angry with. Venya tried to create in her boarding school a society of children from a flask. But nothing worked out for her because a person is a person, and he must necessarily love someone, and he must be loved ... But that’s not what we are talking about now.
What we are talking about is that Olesya played this role surprisingly convincingly, which means she knew something about these children, about this problem — I did not perceive Venya as an unhappy, abandoned child. I somehow wasn’t very concerned about her loneliness and orphanhood, just as I am not concerned about my own loneliness in life, despite my beloved mom, dad, grandmother, and brother, despite numerous friends. Venya, like every person, defends herself in her own way from the surrounding evil world that is around all of us. She, like me, defends her right to remain herself in any situation. Because a person is a small independent state. Venya is sharp, impatient. And who in life hasn’t lost it? I have lost it too. Once my friend was very rudely insulted, and I hit that person. It was just some kind of eclipse that found me, and I hit. Then I kind of came to my senses, got scared... Of course, that’s not a solution, but I can’t stand such rudeness and I don’t intend to tolerate it.
In general, after filming, I changed, became bolder in life and more tolerant of people. I used to argue with my mom, but now our relationship has become calmer. There were conflicts with the director on set, but now we are friends:
— When non-professionals are cast in films, it is assumed that they will undergo brief training in the basics of the craft.
— In principle, acting in a movie is not difficult. You don’t have to memorize the entire role by heart, as in a theatrical performance, because the film is shot in episodes. Before the first take, you review the script text, and by the end of the shooting day, it is so firmly in your head that you can’t shake it off. And the next day it is no longer needed, the next day — a new episode.
The takes, probably, are the most unpleasant. The same thing. Several times. The main thing is not to argue with the director, but that is not easy. He tells me: fall off the “horse” (this is a scene in the gym), and I say: I won’t. I just didn’t want to fall, that’s all, especially since it wasn’t in the script of that episode. In the end, I had to fall. It seemed to me that you can only experience what the character experiences once. But here — even the most successful episode is shot twice, that’s how it’s done. But it rarely works out right away, hence the scandals, nerves ...
Also, the hardest thing is not to notice, not to pay attention to the camera. And you weren’t shy around people? For example, in the episode where you, that is, Venya, undress completely and examine your “growing” body?
— No, people on set are very busy, there weren’t really any extras, everyone is in a hurry: to explain, to teach, to shoot, to deal with their problems, with us, with the film. There’s no need to be shy. I, like them, do my job, personal emotions are of no interest to anyone. By the way, we shot this episode in the first take.
Yes, it is now completely obvious that she is not a movie diva, but an entirely ordinary girl.
Although it is unclear why cinema did not penetrate her soul enough to turn or change her life, after all, all the chances were there: long work, daily communication with "cinema people," which every fifteen-year-old girl dreams of, success, finally, a reward for work.
It seems that she slightly succumbed to the allure, went to drama school, but with relief returned to normal life. And she does not consider the failure a failure, and success at the festival is not considered success ... When the work on the film was finished, she sighed with relief.
It was possible to relax, it was possible to focus on herself. She honestly worked, earned decent money: 140 rubles for each month of salary and 700 rubles as a bonus. She bought herself all sorts of things, gave part of the money "to the family," and with the remaining amount went to rest in the south.
Then her studies at the college began. And although it comes easily to her, it takes a lot of time. She gets up at eleven, spends an hour and a half on the road, about eight hours on studies, and has 45 rubles for pocket money each month. She gets home in the evening.
She reads a little, listens to Tsoi, "Bon Jovi," any music, as long as it fits her mood, chats with her parents, and goes to bed.
Earlier, I thought that cinema was a phenomenon for fifteen-year-old girls. They really want to shine. Or at least to show off to their classmates, or to take a powerful start in a film career, or to somehow secure themselves in life by finding a "non-dusty spot" ...
In any case, for everyone, it is a chance that each tries to use to take off. And then—either soaring or falling. Either happiness or tragedy, Olesya took off.
She played her main role. She played it very well and, of course, is happy about it. The main role in the cinema is just an episode, a happy and unforgettable episode in her life. But life itself is probably more important than cinema.
And the role you play in it is much more serious than any, even the most important film role. Let's try to play it in such a way as to receive the award "For the best lived life."
- Olga SOKOL
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305609/reference
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