Elem Klimov | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elem Germanovich Klimov (1933-07-09)9 July 1933 |
| Died | 26 October 2003(2003-10-26) (aged 70) Moscow, Russia |
| Resting place | Troyekurovskoye Cemetery Moscow, Russia |
| Education | Moscow Aviation Institute Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Known for | Welcome, or No Trespassing,Adventures of a Dentist,Come and See |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Elem Germanovich Klimov (Russian:Элем Германович Климов; 9 July 1933 – 26 October 2003) was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker. He studied at theGerasimov Institute of Cinematography, and was married to film directorLarisa Shepitko. Klimov is best known for his final film,Come and See (Иди и смотри), which follows a teenage boy inGerman-occupied Byelorussia duringWorld War Two and which received universal acclaim. His work also includes black comedies, children's movies, and period dramas.[1]
Elem Klimov was born inStalingrad into aRussian family, to German Stepanovich Klimov, an investigator who worked at theCentral Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and Kaleria Georgievna Klimova. His parents were staunch communists and his first name was an acronym derived from the names ofEngels,Lenin andMarx.[1][2][3] Nevertheless, his brother German Klimov stated that his name comes from Elam Harnish — a character of theBurning Daylight novel byJack London, since their mother was a fan of his.[4] During theBattle of Stalingrad, he, his mother and his baby brother were evacuated from their home and crossed theVolga on a makeshift raft.[2][3] Klimov would later draw on these experiences for his 1985 filmCome and See.[2]
Klimov's first feature film, 1964'sWelcome, or No Trespassing (known in the United Kingdom asNo Holiday for Inochkin) was a satire onSoviet bureaucracy in the guise of a children'ssummer camp adventure story. The film was briefly banned, having been deemed an insult to theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union; however, the ban was rescinded afterNikita Khrushchev had a private viewing and authorized its release.[3]
Klimov's second film,Adventures of a Dentist (1965), was adark comedy about a dentist who is derided by his colleagues for his natural talent of painlessly pulling out teeth. The implication, that society inevitably ostracizes those that are gifted, horrified the censors who told Klimov to change it. When Klimov refused, the film was given the lowest classification, "category three", which meant that it was shown in only 25–78 movie theatres.[5][1][2]
Next, Klimov began making a film aboutGrigori Rasputin calledAgony. The road to release took him nine years and many rewrites. Although finished in 1975, the final edit was not released in the USSR until 1985, due to suppressive measures partly because of itsorgy scenes and partly because of its relatively nuanced portrait ofEmperor Nicholas II.[2] It had been shown in western Europe a few years before. In 1976, Klimov finished a film begun by his teacherMikhail Romm before the latter's death calledAnd Still I Believe....
In 1979, Klimov's wifeLarisa Shepitko, who recently won theGolden Bear at theBerlin International Film Festival for her 1977 filmThe Ascent, died in a car accident while directing a film based on a novel byValentin Rasputin calledFarewell to Matyora. His wife's death had a profound impact on Klimov, and all his subsequent films were tragedies. A year after her death, Klimov filmed a 25-minute tribute to his wife entitled "Larisa" (1980), and subsequently finished directing the film she had started. Despite being shelved for two years after completion,Farewell was still released in 1983.[1]
Klimov's final film,Come and See, was released in 1985 to worldwide acclaim[1] and won the Golden Prize at the14th Moscow International Film Festival.[3][6] The film depicts the experiences of a 15-year-old boy joining the resistance in German-occupied Byelorussia in 1943. Speaking of how the film drew on his own childhood experience of the war, Klimov said, "As a young boy, I had been in hell... Had I included everything I knew and shown the whole truth, even I could not have watched it."[2]
In 1986, fresh from the success ofCome and See, and with the changes brought byperestroika in the air, Klimov was chosen by his colleagues to be the First Secretary of the Filmmakers' Union following theV Congress of the Soviet Filmmakers. According to some critics and filmmakers, the congress was conducted byAlexander Yakovlev, one of the grey cardinals of perestroika who was unofficially presented there, consulting the activists from time to time.[7][8]
Klimov's leadership saw the belated release of many of the previously banned films and the reinstatement of several directors who had fallen out of political favor.[3] This period is widely considered as the start of decline of Soviet cinema and the rise of the so-called "chernukha [ru]" (roughly "black stuff"), works of artists and journalists, who, freed byglasnost, exposed Soviet reality in the most pessimistic possible light. Klimov was still frustrated by the obstacles that still remained in his way and gave up his post in 1988 toAndrei Smirnov, saying that he wanted to make films again.
Klimov completed no more films afterCome and See. His plans included an adaptation ofMikhail Bulgakov'sThe Master and Margarita, an adaptation ofFyodor Dostoevsky'sDemons, and a film aboutJoseph Stalin. However, none came to fruition. He said in 2000 that he had "lost interest in making films. Everything that was possible I felt I had already done."[2]
In 1957, Klimov graduated from the Higher Institute of Aviation in Moscow.[1][2] He considered a career in journalism before settling on cinema.[3] He enrolled at the state film school, the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, where he studied under acclaimed directorEfim Dzigan.[1][2] While a student at the institute, Klimov metLarisa Shepitko, whom he would later marry.[2] Their son Anton was born in 1973.
In 1983, he was a member of the jury at the33rd Berlin International Film Festival.[9]
He died on 26 October 2003 frombrain hypoxia, after six weeks in a coma.[2] He was buried at theTroyekurovskoye Cemetery.[10][11]