Ligne de vie (1996)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Pavel Lungin

Writers:

Vincent Lambert (writer)
Alain Layrac (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 March 1996 (France)

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Vincent Perez	...	Philippe
Tatyana Meshcherkina		(as Tanya Meshcherina)
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan
Jérôme Deschamps
Dmitri Pevtsov	...	Jafar
Vsevolod Larionov	...	Ivan
Aleksandr Pyatkov	...	Le Cuisinier
Vladimir Steklov	...	Pilote Avion
Aleksandr Baluyev	...	Vadim
Rasmi Dzhabrailov	...	Ahmed (as Rasmi Djabrailov)
Lev Borisov	...	Le Tailleur
Aleksandr Negreba	...	Rlabol
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aleksandr Balabushevich	...	Homme Papa (as Alexander Balabouchevitch)
Konstantin Berdikov	...	Le Moustachu
Achir Chakirov	...	Homme Nouzail
Yevgeni Degtyarenko	...	Homme Papa (as Evgueni Degtlarenko)
Sergei Fofanov	...	Homme Papa (as Serguei Fofanov)
Sergei Galkin	...	Bukov
Natalya Gromushkina	...	Prostitute (as Natalia Gromouchkina)
Abdoukarim Ibraguimov	...	Bourreau
Alexander Jourman	...	Homme Papa
Oleg Khabalov	...	Homme Papa
Serguei Koratchenko	...	Milicien
Ajim Kourbanov	...	Homme Nouzail
Guennadi Leskiv	...	Type 3
Andrei Loutchkov	...	Homme Papa
Sadik Mamadjanov	...	Homme Nouzail
German Nurkhanov	...	Homme Nouzail (as Guerman Nourkhanov)
Radja Padachev	...	Homme Nouzail
Evguenï Popov	...	Le Vieux Barbu (as Evgueni Popov)
Djourabek Rasoulov	...	Homme Nouzail
Sergei Ruban	...	Le Poids Lourd
Lyubov Rudneva	...	Prostitute (as Loubov Roudnieva)
Shukur Samandarov	...	Homme Nouzail (as Choukour Samandarov)
Amin Sharipov	...	Joueur de Dondar
Igor Sklarov	...	Accordéoniste
Yuri Slobodenyuk	...	Cammioneur (as Yuri Slobodeniouk)
Alika Smekhova	...	Prostitute
Sergei Stepanchenko	...	Uluk
Mariya Stroganova	...	Prostitute (as Macha Stroganova)
Yuri Sysoyev	...	Type 2 (as Iuri Sysoyev)
Serguei Tchibisov	...	Type 1
Yevgeni Tetervov	...	Cammioneur (as Evgueni Tetervov)
Vladimir Yepiskoposyan	...	Le Turc
Igor Yurash	...	Homme à Aquarium
Svieta Zakharova	...	Oksana Enfant
Igor Zemiezoub	...	Homme Papa
Mikhail Zhigalov	...	Chef Milicien (as Mikhail Jigalov)

Also Known As:

Line of Life (International: English title)
Liniya zhizni (Russia)
Vie en rouge, La (France)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France | Russia

Language:

French | Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Germany:18 | Singapore:PG | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Company:

IMA Productions

Surreal post-com Russian mafia movie

Having seen other films by Pavel Lungin, including 'Oligarkh' and 'Svadba', out of which 'Svadba' is clearly my favorite, I went into this one with high expectations. And I wasn't disappointed in the sense that I haven't lost interest in the story. But it is botched up a little. One scene works and is very powerful indeed, then another just shouldn't be there. Yes, it's surreal madness, from the Central Asian deserts to the post-com Moscow, and it does function as symbolic commentary on trends of new Russian history. But from time to time illogical developments come independently from that endeavor, although they mingle relatively well and thus almost completely disappear in the midst of 'normal' madness. So this is the Russian 'Godfather' indeed, but with a touch of Kusturica as well (think e.g. of 'Underground'), and with minor imperfections. A souvenir from the age that some sociologists, just heard it from a specialist on Russia, characterize as a 'civil war with an extremely narrow battle front, fought over material values'.