The series “Late Repentance” was filmed in 2013 by Oksana Bayrak, in the same year it premiered on the First Russian TV channel. What did the “queen of melodramas” offer their viewers this time, and what feedback did her work receive from the audience?
Oksana Bayrak and her work on Late Repentance
The personality of Oksana Bayrak is quite remarkable, at least in Ukrainian cinema. The owner of her own production studio (Studio Bayrak), despite criticism and any crises in the country, continues to release several films a year.
The genre of melodrama is her favorite, but the director has not yet encountered the form of the series. When asked about how many episodes in the film “Late Repentance”, Bayrak said in an interview with one of the television channels long before the premiere that 16. Moreover, she added that over the six months of the filming process, it’s so “fused” with the story and its characters that at the end of filming involuntarily burst into tears.
Since the total length of the mounted material is about 720 minutes (quite a long time), Oksana Bayrak initially tried to dilute the main plot melodramatic line with elements of a detective and a thriller.
Late Remorse: Contents
Taking into account how long the plot covers “Late Repentance”, how many episodes will be needed to tell this story, the shooting process was planned by Oksana Bayrak.
The story begins with the fact that the main characters - Kira Arsenyeva and Sergey Sazhnev - are young (only 16 years old) and love each other very much. But when Kira became pregnant from her young friend, her mother Mila forces the girl to have an abortion. For Kira, this is too much a shock - she is trying to commit suicide. After her attempt failed, Kira breaks up with Sergei, sits down on antidepressants, escapes from home and gets married early.
After that, the life of the main characters turns into a series of mistakes. Kira lives with an unloved man, whose fault eventually ends up in prison. Sergey is trying to build relationships with other women, but life still remains faded and tasteless. Before Kira’s arrest, they manage to meet only once, but by mistake, Sergey begins to think that his first love had a rather successful marriage and abandoned attempts to establish contact.
The melodrama “Late Repentance” ends with a classic happy ending: Kira and Sergey, who have grown old and gulped in grief, meet again and never part.
Late Remorse: actors and roles
The young Kira Arsenyeva was played by the 20-year-old actress
Anastasia Richie (t / c “The Brothers Karamazov”, 2009), at a more mature age, Anna Sinyakina intercepted the baton. The role of Sergei Sazhnev in his youth was played by the young Alexei Barbinov, who before that starred mainly in the clips of pop artists (Via Gra, Angelica Agurbash), then he was replaced by Artem Krestnikov.
The roles of the Arsenyev family members went to the following actors:
- father - Oleg Maslennikov-Voitov (“Unloved”, 2012);
- mother - Regina Myannik;
- Lika’s sister - Maya Chaika (character in childhood), Yana Glushchenko (“Father's instinct”, 2012);
- Kostya’s brother - Andrey Kostash (character in childhood), George Moskalyuk.
“Later Repentance” - a film in which Maxim Drozd (“Shtrafbat”, 2004), Darina Loboda (“Matchmakers-5”, 2011), Igor Vernik (“Heat”, 2006), Natalia Vasko (“ Territory of Beauty ”, 2009), Sergey Kalantai (“ Efrosinya ”, 2010-13), Daria Volga (“ Efrosinya ”, 2010), etc.
Anna Sinyakina as Kira
For the first time, the viewer saw Anna Sinyakina in Karen Shakhnazarov’s film “The Full Moon Day”, and then in the cult film “Voroshilovsky Shooter” (dir. S. Govorukhin). It seems that the actress is not particularly keen to make a career in cinema - over all these years she starred in only 8 films. But in theatrical productions it is quite in demand.
For the film “Later Repentance”, the actors Oksana Bayrak, according to the director, were selected based on the correspondence of the real personal qualities of the performers with the distinctive features of their characters. Maybe that's why the meek and defenseless Sinyakina in the role of the long-suffering Kira looks so organically: her main character constantly becomes a victim of intrigue and dutifully takes any turns in fate.
“Late remorse” is a film that interested the actress in the opportunity to play several ages of the same character. Anna Sinyakina admitted in an interview with one of the TV channels that she had not yet had such an acting experience.
Artem Krestnikov and his character Sergei Sazhnev
In the series “Late Repentance,” the actors were faced with the need to reincarnate several times as their characters mature. So Artem Krestnikov (graduate of GITIS) plays Sergei Sazhnev - beloved main character - in several age segments.
For filming in the series Krestnikov lost about 20 kg. When questioning journalists about his character, he says that his main goal is to convey through his hero to the audience one simple truth: “Men, take care of women!” The actor says that love happens in life most often alone and it is worth holding on to the end. And the bitter experience of his hero is proof of this.
Regina Myannik as Mila Arsenyeva
For the film “Late Repentance,” the actors, as already mentioned, wanted colorful. The role of the main villain, who manages to destroy the lives of many heroes in the course of the plot, went to the most controversial actress - Regina Myannik.
Regina Myannik, red-haired, with sharp features, starred in several films by Oksana Bayrak and always played strong women, even a little aggressive. However, the actress admits that in life she prefers to be weak and give initiative to the hands of men.
Mila Arsenyeva in “Late Repentance” is the source of all conflicts: she forces Kira to have an abortion, separates him from Sergey and thereby destroys the girl's life; she holds by hook or by crook in the family of her husband, whom she does not love and whom she is unfaithful to; she robs the female happiness of her friend; indirectly, it becomes the reason that her youngest daughter goes into prostitution - in a word, everything is in the best traditions of melodramas for a female audience. And it is with the lips of her character that the sacramental phrase in the final series of the film is pronounced: “Here is mine - late repentance”.
Viewers reviews
The series “Late Repentance” caused a flurry of reviews on forums on the Internet, not only from women, but also from men.
Interestingly, most reviews are associated with the “tasteless” makeup of actresses and their “terrible” hairstyles, as well as unmasked wrinkles, etc.
Positive feedback is received by the game of actor Maxim Drozd and Regina Myannik, reproaches are being poured into the rest of the cast. Viewers also talk about the implausibility of the plot and the large number of “cliches” that “wander” from melodrama to melodrama. However, about 30% of the reviews remain positive and come mainly from ardent fans of Oksana Bayrak.
The quality of the films is always a moot point: each viewer evaluates the plot and the truthfulness of the acting based on his own life experience, taste preferences and emotional needs. So to decide whether or not to watch the series, paradoxically, you can only see at least a few episodes.