Russia, 2019, 67mn 
In deep sleep
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Город уснул


 La Ville dort

 Gorod usnul

Directed by : Mariya IGNATENKO (Мария ИГНАТЕНКО )
Writing credits : Mariya IGNATENKO (Мария ИГНАТЕНКО )
Dmitry KUBASOV (Дмитрий КУБАСОВ)
Vasilisa ZEMSKOVA (Василиса ЗЕМСКОВА)
Cinematography : Veronika SOLOVYEVA (Вероника СОЛОВЬЕВА)
Production design : Lyudmila DUPLIAKINA (Людмила ДУПЛЯКИНА)
Music : Roman KUROCHKIN (Роман КУРОЧКИН)
Editing : Mariya IGNATENKO (Мария ИГНАТЕНКО )
Produced by : Lyudmila DUPLIAKINA (Людмила ДУПЛЯКИНА), Konstantin FAM (Константин ФАМ), Katerina MIHAILOVA (Катерина МИХАЙЛОВА)
Production : film"Кинокомпания «Вега Фильм» при поддержке Министерства культуры РФ и Фонда развития современного кинематографа «КИНОПРАЙМ» / Société "Vega Film" avec le soutien du Ministère de la Culture de la Fédération de Russie et de la Fondation pour le développement du cinéma contemporain "KINOPRIME"
Site : IMDb

Awards :
Best first film Berlin International Film Festival : Berlinale, Berlin (Germany), 2020

Plot synopsis
When Victor’s wife dies and his world falls into a deep slumber, he sets out to wander the empty streets on his own. Struggling to cope with his loss, Victor endures an overwhelming experience that leads him to insanity and murder but through which he ultimately makes peace with himself

Commentaries and bibliography
Maria Ignatenko: In Deep Sleep (Gorod usnul, 2020), Otto BOELE, Kinokultura, 2021
«In deep sleep» plonge la Berlinale dans l’univers onirique d’une réalisatrice russe, Oxana BOBROVITCH,, 2020
Российский фильм Город уснул вошел в программу "Форум" "Берлинале", Сусанна АЛЬПЕРИНА,, 2020
Victor is out at sea. He is in his cabin when another crew member tells him there is a phone call for him, presumably from his wife. Through the noise he hears, "Nika is dead." Still, he screams into the receiver, "I can't hear what you're saying!" Victor gets off the ship and travels to his home city. When the doctor finishes talking, Victor turns away and listlessly looks out the window. Everything suddenly zooms in on him. Outside of the hospital, Victor waits for a bus but it doesn't arrive. He starts walking towards home in the freezing wind and soon sees a bus on the side of the road. The driver is asleep at the wheel. Another bus is standing at the next bus stop where a woman is sleeping. The entire city is asleep: people lie in snow-covered streets, in shops and restaurants... Some mumble or toss around in their sleep, others just lie motionless, but none can be woken up. Victor goes home to his apartment. He changes his clothes, waters the plants and does the usual household chores as if nothing happened and Nika is on her way home from work. But she never arrives. Victor goes to bed and tries to get to sleep. He remembers the song Nika sang at a karaoke place the night before he left to go to sea: it was a sad song with a chorus that kept repeating. When they got home that night she was sick in the bathroom, and acting cold with him. Now, the apartment was quiet. Unbearably quiet. Victor leaves the apartment, drags a sleeping family out of their car and drives back to the pier where his ship is moored. Everyone on board is asleep as well. Victor watches them breathe in their sleep. Suddenly he senses movement and goes looking for the source. The only other person who is awake is the ship's mechanic Dmitry. Victor remembers how on that last night on shore he was jealously watching Nika and Dmitry dance together. Now Nika was dead and Dmitry was the only person awake in this world. Victor watches Dmitry furtively, following him to the engine room. He creeps up to him and hits him hard on the head again and again until, completely exhausted, he slumps to the floor beside the lifeless body. Standing before the judge, Victor cannot explain why he committed the murder. The prosecutor claims that the reason was jealousy; the attorney insists that Victor acted in a state of temporary insanity because he could not resign himself to the loss of his wife. Victor sits there as if in a slumber, not reacting to any questions or accusations. He doesn't even hear the judge announce his sentence. Victor sees himself walking alone across an ice-locked sea, disappearing into the distance, leaving behind nothing but emptiness.

Selected in the following festivals :
- Era New Horizons IFF, Wroclaw (Poland), 2020

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