Muratova, Syndrome Asthenique
- Artist/Author/Producer: Kira Muratova
- Confronting Bodies: Goskino
- Dates of action: November 1989
- Location: Moscow, Soviet Union
- Description of the Art Work
- "Syndrome Asthenique" is the story of a man who doesn't have the strength
to face problems. He falls asleep as soon as life becomes too difficult.
The film also shows a woman whose husband has just died; she begins to
despise the human race, slowly going insane with hate and despair.
- Description of incident
- Goskino refused the film's distribution because ten minutes of dialogue
are in "mat," a local slang that uses extremely coarse expressions. The
Union of Filmmakers mobilized itself immediately by multiplying private
screenings. Andre Smirnov organized a debate/press conference on the 18th
of November, with jurists, teachers and intellectuals. Everybody agreed
on the violence of the scene; the question was to determine whether it
justified the censorship. The legal gap is dramatic, its application to
the film was difficult considering the law that forbids any form of
pornography.
- Results of incident
- The Union of Filmmakers obtained the exploitation certificate and right
to distribute the film.
Source:Cahiers du Cinema, No 426, Dec. 1989