Aleksandr Petrov previously won the Oscar for his adaptation of Hemingway's THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. Now he uses Ivan Shmelyov's story A LOVE STORY to create his latest short epic. For animation fans, they will already now the beauty of Petrov's work, which is like a 19th-century Impressionist painting come to life. His technique is to paint on glass, shoot the painting and then altering the paint to form the next frame. Each exquisite frame is a work of gorgeous art and it is destroyed to move onto the next frame. I spent the first 13 of the 26 minutes of this film simply riveted to its unparalleled beauty.
Set in Moscow in the 1890s, the story follows the wealthy 16-year-old Anton as he becomes sexually aware. He has a crush on his house's servant girl Pasha, who loves the young man too. Then one day, Anton meets a mysterious older woman, named Seraphina, who wears blue-tinted spectacles. Though his attentions have been averted, he is still jealous when Pasha reveals that she has been arranged to marry the local footman. The intensity of Anton's passion for the two women is echoed in the dramas of the town and later his fever-infested dreams.
The grand scope of the drama emotionally captures the power of first love. Anton makes grand gestures and then the results of his actions have grand consequences. There is a great irony that is revealed in the end that poetically reveals the shallowness of Anton's affections for the mysterious woman over the sweet poor Pasha. The beauty of the visuals match the setting, tone and story perfectly. Petrov's style calls out for melodrama and this story fits him perfectly.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
