Episode 574: Brief Encounters (1967) and The Long Farewell (1971)

We conclude our month of discussions about Soviet Cinema with a double feature from Kira Muratova, Brief Encounters from 1967 and The Long Farewell from 1971. Brief Encounters got a very limited release while The Long Farewell was shelved before release. Both films finally got their day in the sun as the Cold War began to thaw.

In Brief Encounters, two women are in love with the same man. The film has a real New Wave feel to it with a fractured timeline and rough production. In The Long Farewell we see a mother, Yevgeniya, become more and more estranged from her son after he spends a summer with his father.

Jane Taubman joins us to discuss Muratova's work while Gianna D'Emilio and Alistair Pitts provide insight on these challenging films.