At the end of spring 2017, the film "Valery Todorovsky" Bolshoi "was released on Russian screens. The peculiarity of this project was that the main roles in it were played by real ballerinas, and professional artists got secondary characters. Let's find out who starred in this tape and what it tells about.
"Large"
This picture is an anniversary for Todorovsky, as this is his 10th directorial work.
Despite the fact that from a financial point of view, the tape can be considered a failure (it collected 234 million at the box office with 370 spent), it received good reviews.
For example, Kinopoisk visitors assigned it a 86% rating based on 67 reviews, 40 of which were positive. This is proved by the fact that most viewers like modern Russian cinema, but he is not ready to spend money on watching it in movie theaters.
The plot of the movie "Big" (2017)
What is this picture about? About the ballet and the desire of a talented girl from the seedy provincial Shakhtinsk to become a prima in the Bolshoi Theater.
With the help of a series of flashbacks in the film “Big” (2017), the story of Julia Olshanskaya is gradually told.
She grew up in a provincial large family. Parents did not care much for her, and the girl often traded with petty theft and hooliganism, which is why she was registered with the police.
Once a drunk ballet dancer Vladimir Pototsky noticed how she danced on the street. Seeing her talent, he took the girl as a student. In the future, with his help, Yulia manages to enter the Moscow Ballet Academy.
Years pass. The leaders of the educational institution argue about who will dance the main party in the final performance. There are 2 candidates: Julia and her friend Karina. Both girls are the best on the course and worthy of this honor. However, Karina is more compliant, in addition, she is a girl from a wealthy family, and her mother goes to great lengths to get this role for her daughter. To the extent that secretly from her daughter offers money to Julia, so that she gives way to a friend.
On the side of Olshanskaya in this dispute stands the honored teacher and legendary ballerina - Galina Beletskaya. To help the girl, she turns to friends in the government and seeks a role for Julia.
Shortly before the play, the girl goes to her relatives in Shakhtinsk. There, she is faced with their complete indifference to her successes and reproaches that Julia does not help her family in any way. Despite the fact that the mother herself always did not care about her daughter, the girl decides to help her. She “sells” the role and sends the money to her family.
On the day of the performance, Olshanskaya repeats the legendary feat of her mentor and jumps from one roof to another.
After graduation, Julia settles in the corps de ballet of the Bolshoi Theater, and Karina becomes prima there. Time passes and the theater prepares to stage Swan Lake with Karina in the title role. The partner of the girl becomes the famous, but aging French dancer - Antoine Duval.
At first, he was skeptical of Olshanskaya’s abilities, but during one of the warm-ups she notes how she dances very well. After that, he makes the girl an understudy for prima.
Before the final run, Julia and Karina quarrel. In her hearts, Olshanskaya admits to her friend that she took money from her mother for refusing to play a role in the final performance.
On the day of the premiere, Karina hides and gives Yulia a chance to dance the main part and show herself. Full of hope and anxiety, the girl goes on stage ...
Unprofessional actors of Todorovsky’s film “Big”
As mentioned above, in order to better convey the atmosphere prevailing in the theater, professional ballet dancers were invited to play the main roles in the project.
The main character was played by Lithuanian ballerina Margarita Simonova. For her, this is the first movie job. Despite this, she did an excellent job.
The role of Julia the teenager was performed by the Moscow gymnast Katya Samuilina.
Olshanskaya rival Karina Kournikova on the screen embodied the Moscow ballerina Anna Isaeva. This heroine in childhood was played by Nastya Plotnikova.
The role of the French dancer Antoine Duvall went to Nicolas Le Riche. This artist is not only dancing himself, but also engaged in staging performances in his homeland - in France.
Unlike other actors of Todorovsky’s film “Big”, Nicolas has already acted in films for 4 times.
A classmate of Karina and Yulia (in whom the latter was in love) was played by Russian ballet dancer of Ukrainian origin Andrei Sorokin.
Alisa Brunovna Freindlich
Having considered the unprofessional actors of Todorovsky’s film “Bolshoi”, it is worth paying special attention to famous Russian artists who played minor characters in the project.
First of all, the majority of the audience remembered the game of the star of the Soviet cinema - Alisa Brunovna Freindlich. She embodied on the screen the image of the teacher of the academy and former ballerina Galina Beletskaya.
Alice Freindlich became famous in the Soviet and post-Soviet space thanks to her participation in such cult projects as “Office Romance”, “D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” 1-4, “Weekdays and Holidays of Serafima Glyukina” and the main role in the detective television series “Women's Logic” .
The total filmography of this wonderful artist has more than 100 works. Today, despite his considerable age, Alice Freindlich continues to act in films and delight her fans.
Valentina Ivanovna Telichkina
Another famous actress who played a minor character in the project is Valentina Ivanovna Telichkina.
This artist got an equally interesting role - the strict head of the Academy Lyudmila Sergeevna Untilova. This heroine from the very moment she met Olshansky and therefore struggles to help her rival - Kournikova.
Valentina Telichkina during her career starred in more than 80 films. The peak of her fame came in 60-80 years. It was during this period that she played the most famous roles in the films Zigzag of Fortune, Anna's Happiness, Cannot Be!, Quagmire, etc.
Alexander Yuryevich Domogarov
Considering the professional actors of Todorovsky’s film “Bolshoi”, one cannot fail to mention the performer of the role of Yulia’s mentor, Alexander Domogarov.
Despite his hectic disposition, he is very popular in film and television. His filmography, by the way, exceeds the number of films in which A. Freundlich played. The first fame among the audience brought him the role of Pavel Gorin in the third "Midshipmen".
In the future, the artist retrained for television series. His most famous roles are in the series Countess de Monsoro, Gangster Petersburg, and Turetsky March.
Among the feature films, the Polish project Ogniem i mieczem, in which he played the Ukrainian Cossack colonel Bogun, brought him great fame.
This year, in addition to the role of the drunken ballet dancer Pototsky in the film "Big", Alexander Domogarov starred in the continuation of "Midshipmen", as well as in the drama "Pearls" and the historical film "Sorge". At the moment, they are all still in production, but are already eagerly awaited by fans of the artist’s talent.