The
 Vincent
PEREZ
Archives

 
Russia

1995

100 min.

Synopsis:  This fast-paced European escapist fare is set in crumbling contemporary Moscow where a young   French composer named Philippe Robin finds himself seduced into a fantastic adventure after his flight to Paris is delayed and he finds himself broke and stranded in the Moscow airport. He is approached by the mischievous and beautiful Oksana who offers him a night tour of the city. She is actually the daughter of Papa, a powerful local Mafia don, a boss of the old school with deep values. He is also endowed with extraordinarm powers - his hands can heal, but also kill. Drugged, poor Phillipe is kidnapped by two thugs who belong to the Russian mafia. When Phillipe awakens, Papa forces him to impersonate the commercial director of a huge French textile mill so the Mafioso can continue to con the leader of a recently liberated Central Asian country into investing in a non-existent mill. Papa believes that for seventy years the Bolsheviks took the money of the people and now people want to recover the money down to the last kopek. The plot works until the bilked get their own revenge. Meanwhile, Phillipe and Oskana fall in love and these young and beautiful heroes are able to get the better of the Russian mafia and carve out a bright future for themselves.

*****

Production Notes:

In 1995 filming began in June in Moscow and finished in Paris in September and was shot almost chronologically. 

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*****

"It's a film about a father, his daughter and a stranger. A film of love and adventure. For the first time I really struggled to launch a film. I learned that censorship is indisputable in France... For the first time, the cinematographer is French and almost all of the technical team. The presence of French is very important. I live in France. I write and think in French. More than a film about the mafia, it is film about the meeting of two cultures, a different world view."

*****

"I met Pavel in Switzerland, during a radio show. Long after he spoke to me of the scenario. And I was very touched by the fact that it is strangely very close to a script I am writing for two years, close to things I feel. And I like stories that begin with a character out of context, immersed in another. "

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