Queen of spades

Language : Russian

 

Year of release : 2016

 

Run time : 2h

 

Genre : Drama

 

The movie is about the staging of the opera ‘Queen of spades’ by Tchaikovsky,inspired by Alexander Pushkin's 1834 novella. The lead is obsessed with Hermann ,the lead in the opera. He’s also obsessed with the star of the opera,Sophia Mayer. He  starts gambling,and becomes a gambler,obsessed with becoming Hermann,to prove that he is Hermann in real life too.

 

The movie is adapted from Alexander Pushkin's book.

 

Andrei was dating Lisa at the beginning of the movie,and asked her to put in a good word for him to her aunt,Sophia,the star of the show.

Sophia wants a famous tenor to play Hermann,but in the end,as she falls in love with him,and the lead loses his voice,she gives the role to Andrei.

Andrei even asks Lisa to give him the necklace her aunt gave her,a diamond necklace ,or so she thinks,to prove to him she loved him. I wonder what did he ever do to prove to her he loved her,or his love didn’t have to be proven? What he did do,was cheat on her with her aunt.

When Lisa catches them together,she destroys the necklace and finds out it was a fake.

 

Andrei gets obsessed with gambling in his madness to become a real life Hermann,that he goes on a downward spiral,descending into insanity,having staking his own self,if he lost the game of cards,the same card game Hermann played in the opera play. He loses and the men who lend him the money come for him.

 

I didn’t understand his need to gamble,especially when he won so much money. I don’t understand why he couldn’t stop. I didn’t understand what he had to prove,what he wanted to prove,Hermann was crazy.

 

Sophia has a gambling problem too,having lost all of her fortune to it.

 

The voices of the opera singers are amazing,but unfortunately that’s not my kind of music,so the movie bored me,also ,because gambling is not my thing and I don’t like watching such movies.

 

The actors were great,Xenia Rappaport was amazing. This movie felt like a Russian production of Black Swan,as the lead descends into madness,doing what his character does in the opera.

 

I didn’t like it,it bored me.

 

The movie is streaming on Mubi.

 

Rating : Could have been a contender !