Stanislav Rostotsky - film director, teacher, actor, People's Artist of the USSR, Lenin Prize Laureate, but above all, he is a man with a capital letter - incredibly sensitive and understanding, compassionate to the feelings and problems of other people. He is a man with great willpower and a love of life, who, despite all his problems and difficulties, did not cease to be amazed at the world around him, rejoice every day and notice the beauty around him.
Biography
Rostotsky Stanislav Iosifovich was born in the spring of 1922 in the Yaroslavl region, in the family of Joseph Boleslavovich and Lydia Karlovna. The boy was the only child in the family, and he received plenty of attention, parental care, and love. Mom of the future director was a housewife, dad was a doctor.
The childhood of Rostotsky is inextricably linked with the village. As a boy, he spent a lot of time there. Love for truly Russian values - work, nature, land - was established in his youth. Stanislav experienced a lot of that time - unsettled life; cards for products on which it was possible to purchase bread; clothing inherited from senior comrades or father. But Rostotsky liked all this - the village people, their life, their hard daily work.
Life in an urban communal apartment is another element of the biography of the future director. The common residence of many families in one apartment is a special time that did not go unnoticed through the heart and soul of Stanislav Iosifovich. All these living conditions, circumstances in pieces formed the big picture, laid and shaped the character of Rostotsky.
Dreams and plans for the future
The dream of becoming a great director haunted Stanislav Iosifovich from an early age. Being a five-year-old tomboy, he saw the “Battleship“ Potemkin ”Sergei Eisenstein. The boy was so impressed with the picture that he decided at all costs to connect his life with cinema.
Later, Sergei Eisenstein became for Rostotsky a friend, a teacher, and even more - a mentor in life, a man who laid the foundation in shaping the personality of the future director, his moral and ethical principles, basic character traits.
The fact is that, by the will of fate, the future actor Stanislav Rostotsky got on a screen test in the film "Bezhin Meadow" by Sergei Eisenstein, where he met with the great director.
At the age of sixteen, young Rostotsky turned to Eisenstein for help - the young man asked the venerable director to teach him the basics of the profession. In exchange for this, Rostislav was ready to do any unsightly job - to manage the housework, to clean his shoes, etc. Sergey Eisenstein accepted the young man’s fervent offer with humor, and for a start he recommended the young man to seriously engage in self-education - to study world art, music, literature. The great director was firmly convinced that without knowledge there is no directing.
War years
After graduation, Stanislav entered the Institute of Philosophy and Literature. Communication with Eisenstein did not pass without a trace. The young man was firmly convinced that in the future he would go to the Institute of Cinematography. However, the war soon began, which confused all the cards to Rostotsky. VGIK evacuated, and now you could forget about studying.
Rostotsky was drafted into the army in 1942. I must say that in peacetime, the future director had health problems and was considered non-combatant. However, the military situation corrected this fact. In 1943, the young man went to the front, where he experienced all the horrors of war, and faced nose to nose with death. He, a boy who grew up in love and harmony, with a fine mental organization, was painful to realize the whole nightmare of what was happening around. This difficult life experience did not pass without a trace. First, he was reflected in the director’s memoirs with the simple name “Autobiography”, and later in his films, which left an indelible mark on the hearts of Soviet people for many years - “And the dawns here are quiet”, “May Stars”, “On Seven Winds”.
The war is gone. What is left?
In February 1944, on the territory of Ukraine, Stanislav Rostotsky was seriously injured. He was hospitalized first in Rivne, then in Moscow. The young man was operated several times, but the doctors did not save his leg - she had to be amputated.
In August 1944, Rostotsky received a disability and returned to Moscow. He did not give up, did not feel sorry for himself, after everything he had experienced, he did not break, did not give up, did not stop believing in his own strength. Stanislav, not paying attention to the hardships of life, decided at all costs to fulfill his childhood dream. He entered the Institute of Cinematography on the course of Grigory Kozintsev. The man with his head went to school, which brought incredible joy and pleasure, tried to absorb any trifle, without missing anything, tried to learn what was possible, tried to use every chance.
From this moment began a new stage in the life of young Rostotsky. Studying at VGIK gave the future director a fateful meeting with his wife. Stanislav Rostotsky and Nina Menshikova, who studied on the course with
Sergei Gerasimov, met while studying at the institute.
Rostotsky family
Girl Nina immediately "laid eyes" on the pretty Rostotsky. However, she did not seriously count on winning the man’s heart. Rostotsky was always surrounded by numerous fans. Family happiness and the fate of the young beauty Menshikova decided the case that provided life. Nina, like the wife of the Decembrist, went after Rostotsky on a distant creative mission, where the future director was traveling with his friend Vladimir Krasilshchikov. Joint life brought together young people, Stanislav fell in love.
In his memoirs, however, Rostotsky admitted that Nina’s initiative to go somewhere with two unfamiliar men surprised him and did not even like him. However, he later changed his mind. After some time, the young people got married.
Nina Menshikova played about sixty roles in films. The director of some of them was Stanislav Rostotsky. The audience will forever remember the roles of the teacher of the Russian language and literature in the film “We'll Live Until Monday”, the role of Vera Timofeevna Kruglova in the comedy “Girls”.
In marriage, Stanislav Iosifovich and Nina Evgenievna had a son, Andrei, who later became a famous actor. Apparently, the heredity of two creative talented people was passed on to the child.
The beginning of the creative path
In parallel with his studies at the institute, Rostotsky helped Kozintsev at the Lenfilm film studio, thanks to which he received not only invaluable experience, but also a good recommendation as a ready-made independent film director at the end of a higher educational institution.
Since 1952, Stanislav Iosifovich worked at the Gorky Studio. That period of time is characterized by the Khrushchev Thaw, which has not bypassed the cinema either - instructions to shoot as many agricultural paintings as possible scattered across the country. Of course, this fact was immediately reflected in the work of the maestro. Over the next five years, two films saw the light - “Earth and People” and “It Was in Penkov,” authored by director Stanislav Rostotsky.
The film "Earth and People", before appearing before the audience, lay on the shelf for some time. The fact is that a movie was shot based on the novel by Gabriel of Troepolsky "Prokhor Seventeenth and Others." The manuscript was banned for publication, as it exposed the unenviable position of agriculture of the country of that time. The film suffered the same fate - the artistic council banned it from showing, and the director of the counter-revolutionary was hung on the director Rostotsky.
However, the situation soon changed - the ban on showing was removed from the picture, its premiere took place on the day after the 20th Party Congress.
The film “It Was in Penkov” also had a hard way to the audience, but later it was a resounding success.
"Live to Monday"
Stanislav Rostotsky, whose films resonate with the souls of many viewers, created yet another masterpiece, incredibly kind, and such a truly sincere - “We'll Live Till Monday”. She became not only his calling card, but also opened a new direction in the cinema of the USSR - youthful cinema.
The events of the film unfold in a school - a place where the interaction of two generations is constantly happening - the older and younger. And not always teachers teach the lives of their students. School brothers often teach everyday lessons to their mentors. Rostotsky tried to break in his picture the stereotypes of pedagogy existing at that time, and proposed an alternative to standard school education.
The film was shot in an incredibly short time. Filming lasted only three months. This saved him from censorship, which, apparently, would put the tape on the shelf. However, the ban simply did not have time to overtake the picture.
The first to see the film were the delegates of the All-Union Congress of Teachers. Officials expected the congress participants to ridicule the picture. But everything turned out exactly the opposite.
Subsequently, in 1962, the film was awarded the USSR State Prize and Grand Prix at the fourth Moscow International Film Festival.
Military topics and more
In 1972, Rostotsky made another of his masterpieces - the film “The Dawns Here Are Quiet,” based on the story of Boris Vasiliev. The painting, which showed the face of war in the fates of young girls who were just starting their lives, their heroism and immortal feat, echoed in the heart of many people.
In general, Rostotsky Stanislav Iosifovich always in the center of events depicted the feelings and emotions of heroes, brought to the forefront exactly the best human qualities. All his paintings are alive, they wake the soul, make it worry and worry.
The film “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” - a laureate of international film festivals - was nominated for an Oscar. This film about the war is a dedication, a tribute to all those who fought for their homeland, who survived, and those who died.
Stanislav Rostotsky, whose filmography includes more than a dozen stunning paintings, would not have shown the world if Anya Chegunova hadn’t met in his way. The director owes this man life. Anna Chegunova is an ordinary woman who voluntarily fought at the front until May 1945. Nature awarded her not only beauty, courage, but also a compassionate heart. She pulled Rostotsky out of the battle in the literal sense of the word in her arms. After the war she got married, gave birth to children. But the war did not let her go. Memories, difficult experiences did not pass unnoticed - a woman was diagnosed with brain cancer. By the time the film was made, she was already blind, but Rostotsky brought her to the studio and commented on everything that was happening on the screen. Stanislav Iosifovich was an incredibly sensitive person.
Another touching tape we owe to director Rostotsky. The film "White Bim Black Ear" was awarded the Lenin Prize. She also took the Grand Prix of the Karlovy Vary festival.
Rostotsky. Who is he?
In the early 1990s, the director left the cinema. On the accumulated during his life accumulations and pensions of a war invalid, he and his wife led a quiet and unhurried life, enjoying every day they were given.
Stanislav Rostotsky, whose biography, like a film strip, has many positive and negative spots, managed to remain sincere, real, sincere. He left the cinema many years ago, but even after years his colleagues in the workshop warmly recall this incredible man, noting not only his professionalism, but also his spiritual qualities. For example, Svetlana Druzhinina, who starred in Stanislav Iosifovich's film “It Was in Penkov,” speaks of Rostotsky as a person with an infinitely sensitive soul, amazing intuition and creative flair. She says that she learned from him many directorial working methods, as well as the ability to make bold decisions, the ability not to hesitate, but to take risks.
Boris Vasiliev, according to the story of which Rostotsky shot the film “But Dawns Are Quiet Here,” says that the picture was shot very simply - with the heart, and there was no falsehood in it, it did not cause disgust. The writer says that with Rostotsky he had the happiest movie job, because no one respected copyright as much as he did.
In August 2001, Stanislav Rostotsky died of a heart attack on his way to Vyborg at the Window to Europe film festival.
A year after the death of his father, Rostotsky’s son, Andrei, died. The tragedy occurred on the set of the film in Krasnaya Polyana, a man fell off the mountain.
Nina Menshikova lived another five years and also left this world. This amazing family full of love left abruptly and very unexpectedly. Stanislav Rostotsky, Nina Menshikova and Andrei Rostotsky are buried in Moscow at the Vagankovsky cemetery.