Joseph Efimovich is an outstanding film playwright, who directed thirty films that contain the entire history of the Soviet period. The filmmaker proved himself to be a true artist, who was able for posterity to fix on film the image of a person who is transforming historical time.
Like a Chekhov hero
Even filming the classic literary works of Chekhov or Turgenev, Joseph Kheifits revealed the features of his contemporaries, showing the audience the truth about today. He skillfully translated the literary text into the language of cinema, his authorial directorial delights were perceived justifiably and organically. It is no coincidence that his work was awarded international prizes. The authority of Joseph Heifits in the domestic film industry has always been unattainably high, even the most famous actors considered it an honor to star in him even in an episodic or secondary role. Restrained, intelligent and delicate - he himself was like a Chekhov hero, eschewed pathos in professional activities and personal life. At the same time, he treated people around, not justifying his trust, with gentle sadness, and did not stop hoping for their transformation.
Industriousness talent grows
Kheifits Iosif Efimovich was born in Minsk in a family of an employee in 1905. From childhood, he showed extraordinary creative abilities, was interested in cinema. In 1924 he moved to Leningrad to gain basic skills and knowledge, studying at the Leningrad College of Screen Art. In the educational institution, the young man meets with Alexander Zarhi, who later became his close friend, creative soul mate and co-author of many films. Joseph successfully combined his studies with writing reviews in the magazines "Kinonedelya", "Workweek", took an active part in the activities of the Society of Friends of Soviet Cinema, headed by F. Dzerzhinsky.
After graduating from technical school, he decides to continue to improve his cinematography skills at the cinema faculty of the Institute of Art History. At the same time, she begins to work at the Sovkino film factory. In a creative duet with Zarha, he writes the scripts for the paintings “Moon on the Left” and “Transport of Fire”. The friends initiate the formation of the Komsomol production brigade and shoot pictures of the Soviet youth “Noon” and “Wind in the face”.
Catalog of Unclaimed Personalities
In 1933, director Joseph Kheifits in tandem with A. Zarhi removes a tape about the events on the Soviet-Chinese border under the name "My Homeland." The painting was commissioned by senior officials of the Red Army. The sound masterpiece in fact of recent debutants has delighted experienced filmmakers. But later the film incurred the wrath of the powerful of this world, so it sunk into oblivion, disappeared from the history of Russian cinema, remaining a fact not of a creative, but rather personal biography of Joseph Heifits. The fact is that novice filmmakers in their work relied on individuality, although the previous type canon has already departed, and the new one was not established by censorship. Therefore, the film "My Homeland" is often criticized as a catalog of unclaimed individuals, types and bright characters. The actors involved in the production of the tape were little known, in the future, the majority failed to build a brilliant career.
In contrast to “My Homeland”, celebrities played in the movie “Hot Days”, but the performers were not able to “revive” the characters of this overly over-optimistic comedy picture. But on her set, Joseph Kheifits and Yanina Zheimo met and fell in love, confirming their feelings by legal marriage.
Ignoring Society Trends
In most mainstream films of the works of the director Joseph Kheifits, even oversaturated with social significance, there is a person’s private life, his personality. This can be confirmed by the film, which was included in the classics of Soviet cinema under the name “Baltic Deputy”, which was also filmed in collaboration with Zarha. The directors, despite the trends that prevailed at that time in Soviet cinema, emphasized the social intent of their work, directing the attention of the audience to the necessary track. According to the authors' idea, the image of the scientist Polezhaev served as a clear illustration of the possibility of harmonious interaction between the Russian intelligentsia and the revolutionary proletariat. In this project, as in the “Member of the Government” and in “His name is Suche-Bator”, they tried to achieve one goal - to show the personal path to the revolution of three heroes different in their social status and level of intellectual development.
In the spirit of the times
In the future, the filmography of Joseph Heifits was replenished with the documentary "The rout of Japan", the tape "In the Name of Life" and the picture "Precious Grains". After the director’s creative activity, there was a lull, he practically stopped shooting during the period of active struggle against cosmopolitanism.
In 1954, the director filmed a novel by V. Kochetov "The Zhurbin family." The film "The Big Family" is made in the traditional form of a story about a working dynasty for socialist realism. At the same time, the picture reflects the trends of the times, the history of the relationship between the main characters is not directly related to their professional activities and the social background of the film. This trend is observed in subsequent works of Joseph Heifits, such as "My Dear Man" and "The Case of Rumyantsev."
Adaptations of the classics
A significant period in the work of the filmmaker is devoted to the film adaptations of the works of Chekhov, Turgenev, Kuprin. Among the most significant adaptations in the director’s track record are: “The Lady with the Dog,” “In the City of S.,” “The Bad Good Man,” “Asya,” “Shurochka.” These paintings brought Joseph Efimovich widespread fame in the West. Foreign artists highly appreciated the author’s attention to the expressiveness of detail, a smooth, unhurried narration, permeated with subtle psychologism.
Around this period, Kheifits turned to modern realities, participated in the creation of the films "The One", "Salute, Maria!", "First Married."
Unfortunately, the director was not allowed to put on film the creative plan of actor Y. Tolubeev, the film "Tevye the Milkman", despite the fact that the script had already been prepared, which had been released from the pen of L. Trauberg.
"Acting Director"
In the period from the late 60s to the 80s. Heifitz observed a complication of the concept of a movie hero, possibly under the influence of work on adaptations of Turgenev and Chekhov's prose. The main subject of the director’s artistic interest is the unpredictability of personal personality in the spontaneous deliberate nature of the life stream, the duality of a person’s life position, and mismatch with traditional ideas about life or norms of behavior.
This concept of the hero made Joseph Heifitz an exclusively acting director. The system of expressive means is determined by the installation on the actor, among them the innovative method - free intraframe editing. Even in almost the last masterpiece, entitled “The Stray Bus,” the director finds an unparalleled creative twist that allows him to present the person and his environment of being in an original way. At the same time, the narrative is not saturated with acute crisis situations.
Personal life
Joseph Heifitz was married twice. The first time, as already mentioned, he was married by actress Yanina Zheimo, who gave birth to his son Julia. Currently, Julius Iosifovich is a well-known Polish operator. The second wife was a woman of rare beauty Irina Vladimirovna Svetozarova. The couple raised two sons - Dmitry and Vladimir, who decided to follow in the footsteps of the famous father. Dmitry became a director, Vladimir - a film artist.
Joseph Efimovich was really happy in marriage. Spouses have never been seen angry or annoyed; they truly loved each other. According to friends, spirituality always reigned in their house, no gossip and squabble. Despite the fact that the family lived quite poorly. There was a period when they had to sleep on a mattress standing on bricks, the roof leaked, the iron bathroom seemed a luxury. At the same time, there was always fresh air in the apartment, Kheifits always kept the windows wide open.
The treasure of the family was the few books that stood on a shelf, which the director made with his own hand: he sawed and opened it with potassium permanganate. Sons recall that he was a lover of home-made things, so the whole house was filled with crafts - funny, touching, naive.
In the memory of generations
The creative heritage of Joseph Heifitz is difficult to overestimate. Even modern visionaries, building a graphic series, try to inherit his technique, to be extremely consistent. The filmmaker died at the age of 90, is buried near St. Petersburg at the Memorial Cemetery, near the village of Komarovo. In 2005, a mail envelope was issued in Russia dedicated to Joseph Efimovich Heifits.