The film "Big", the reviews of which are in this article, is a well-known film directed by Valery Todorovsky, released in 2017. The film tells the story of a young provincial girl who realizes her dream - to get on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. She succeeds in doing this thanks to a wise and experienced mentor. This is a domestic film about beauty, dream and, of course, ballet.
Shooting a picture
The film "Big" received positive reviews from both viewers and critics. Director Valery Todorovsky is already well known to the Russian audience. However, his last work was released only in 2008. It was a picture of "Dudes" - about Soviet youth.
An interesting fact: the creators paid great attention to casting the actors. Moreover, it was held not only in Russia, but also abroad.
Shooting the movie "Big" in the reviews of many left a deep impression. They were held in Moscow, on the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theater, as well as in the provincial town of Kirovsk, located in the Murmansk Region, and in Minsk.
For the filming of the picture, the dances were staged by a specially hired choreographer - Oleg Glushkov. Incidentally, he collaborated with Todorovsky on the set of Thaw and Hipster.
On the set, in total, more than 70 professional ballet dancers were involved. About 500 costumes were specially made. For example, one of the roles was played by the French choreographer Nicolas Le Risch.
Box office
Despite the fact that the film "Big" received good reviews from critics, the box office picture failed.
With an official budget of 370 million rubles, only 234 million were raised in domestic cinemas. Experts explained this mainly by the time the tape came out. It was rented in the summer, when there is a relative lull in all cinemas, and there is an outflow of residents from cities who leave for summer cottages and on vacation.
Film crew
Director Valery Todorovsky made more than one high-profile domestic film. His debut work was the melodrama "Hearse" of 1990. In 1998, he directed the drama "Country of the Deaf", which was included in the top hundred of the best Russian films by many critics.
In 2008, he acted as the director of the drama musical "Hipsters", and then worked on the series about the Soviet Union "Thaw".
"Big" is his ninth feature film.
Todorovsky himself wrote the synopsis for the film together with the theater playwright and director Ilya Tilkin. In the script for the film, it was designed by Anastasia Palchikova.
The director of photography was the Ukrainian Sergey Mikhalchuk, who had already worked with Todorovsky on the set of the drama "My Step-Brother Frankenstein".
Costume designer Alexander Osipov played an important role in creating the atmosphere of the film. He twice won the Nika Award for Vasily Pichul’s comedy “Dreams of an Idiot” and Todorovsky’s picture “Dudes”.
Plot of the film
In reviews of the film "Big" Todorovsky usually noted a deep and thoughtful script.
In the narrative, several temporary layers are constantly interspersed. These are the first years of the main character's studies at the ballet academy, preparation for an important graduation performance, on which her future career directly depends. Another time layer is work at the Bolshoi Theater.
In the beginning of the film "Big", reviews of which are given in this article, the actions begin in the early 2000s. The ballet dancer Pototsky arrives in the small provincial town of Shakhtinsk. In his youth, Potocki showed great hope, but then drank too much and could not build a successful career on the stage of the theater.
In Shakhtinsk, he draws attention to the girl Julia, who is an excellent dancer. She is considered a difficult teenager, in addition, she has more than one drive to the police.
He invites Julia to go with him to Moscow. In the capital, he shows her former famous teacher and Soviet ballerina Beletskaya. She currently teaches at the ballet academy.
It turns out that the girl has an independent character, while very direct in communication and manners. With difficulty, she is accepted into the academy.
Studying at the ballet academy
Speaking about the film "Big", in reviews, reviews often mention scenes dedicated to her studies at the ballet academy. There she manifests herself in full glory. Starts a friend Karina, who literally dreams of ballet.
Girls become roommates and true friends. But at the same time they involuntarily begin to compete with each other. After all, both are considered the best on the course.
Meanwhile, Beletskaya is so close to Julia that she offers to clean the floors of her house to give her an opportunity to earn some money. Having revealed her talent, the teacher gives her lovely earrings with diamonds. He just asks them not to show them to anyone, but to wear them when they first enter the Bolshoi Theater.
The only trouble is that Beletskaya is old and suffers from memory failures. Soon she forgets about this episode and claims the loss of earrings. Julia is accused of theft and almost expelled from the academy.
Graduation performance
In the reviews of the film "Big" (2017), many note a successful storyline dedicated to the final performance of "Sleeping Beauty." They plan to put it on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater.
In the main role, the head of the academy sees Karina, who attracts her not only with her talent, but also with stability, which can not be said about Julia. Beletskaya, who had forgotten about the old insults, insists that Julia should give the role after all.
Karina's mother, in order to ensure the future of her daughter, offers Yulia a large sum so that she herself abandons the image of Aurora in this performance. Julia is shocked by this proposal, she quarrels with Karina.
An upset girl in an electric train makes a new acquaintance with a young man named Cyril. She stays with him for a while.
The girl is late for the general run, so the head of the academy expels her with a scandal. Beletskaya is not relented. In order for her favorite to get the role, she turns for help to an influential admirer of her talent, who now works in the Kremlin. Only in this way Yulia is asserted for the main role, which causes dissatisfaction with the leaders of the academy and her classmates. Beletskaya is asked to leave the academy because she has resorted to such tricks.
Ahead of the summer holidays. Julia goes to her relatives in Shakhtinsk. She's carrying presents to her younger brothers. In Shakhtinsk lives her mother, with whom they constantly quarrel. Julia accuses her of taking food from the table from the family in which she works as a maid. She in response accuses her that she left to conquer Moscow and realize her dream, leaving her alone with young children. After all, Julia’s father has long died.
Drama on the roof
This conversation provokes Julia to abandon the main role in the final performance in order to take money from Karina's mother and leave this role to her daughter. She sends money to relatives in Shakhtinsk.
Julia herself goes to the roof. According to legend, which is being actively discussed at the academy, Beletskaya herself came here in her youth. They say that then she jumped from here to the roof of a neighboring house. Julia triumphantly repeats this jump.
Unexpectedly for everyone, Karina plays the main role in the premiere performance. And the head of the academy in the morning finds the dead Beletskaya in the training room.
Work at the Bolshoi Theater
The film "Big" (2017) reviews received very high ratings. For example, on the site "Kinopoisk" rating of 6.6 out of 10 possible.
Of great interest was the further development of the career of ballerinas. Karina becomes the prima of the Bolshoi Theater, Julia is content with a place in the corps de ballet. The production of Swan Lake is being prepared. French director Antoine Duval is invited to work on it.
After the opening press conference, Julia meets Duvall with a bottle of cognac and sets off to wander around Moscow with him in the evening. They talk the night away.
The next day, Duvall makes her remarks, saying that the girl sat up in the corps de ballet, it was time for her to leave the stage. But at the same time, on the eve of the premiere, it is she who he recommends as a backup for the role of Odette. Karina is annoyed by such a decision, she is sure that her ex-girlfriend achieved this through bed. Karina is confident that she herself always danced better, and therefore received the main roles. Yulia has to disappoint her and talk about the bribe received from her mother.
Premiere of "Swan Lake"
In the film "Big" Todorovsky, according to critics, the director especially succeeded in scenes of the experiences of heroes and performances on the stage of the theater.
Before the premiere, Karina disappears. The viewer sees that she goes to the attic of the academy, like Julia at the beginning of the film. Duval insists that the main character of the film should play Odette. Julia refuses, but everyone convinces her that after that her career should go uphill.
In memory of Beletskaya, she puts on earrings and enters the Bolshoi stage.