The Existential World of Kira Muratova

2019 is the year of the 85th anniversary of Kira Muratova (1934–2018), a filmmaker whose work occupies a special place in world cinema. Women with a particular psychoanalytic bent are rarely found among film directors – for this reason, Muratova’s twenty films, mostly known to a narrow circle of experts, are especially interesting as a research subject. Made during the Soviet and post-Soviet years, they have not become cinematographic annals of the age, playing quite a different role. Muratova’s works are “art films” which interpret reality by creating a unique existential world. As an artist, Muratova was always interested in the human beings’ inner world, their individual ‘selves’: this established an affinity between her work and existential philosophy.

The discussed topic is relevant to the present situation in which screen culture is becoming more and more mass-oriented, when cinema and TV films are turning into pure entertainment, into amusement rides. In this situation, Kira Muratova’s works, which analyze spiritual dimensions and inner worlds of individuals, acquire particular importance, helping us to face the challenges of contemporary world.

The existential world of Muratova’s works is formed by individuals’ relationships with society and the world; her films strive to grasp the meaning of life and the goal of existence, the opposition between life and death. Muratova’s creative universe is unique in her desire to center her psychological explorations on female protagonists, women’s destiny, their inner loneliness, lack of communication and spiritual discord.

In the year of Kira Muratova’s anniversary, the relevance of her oeuvre is beyond doubt. Her films demonstrate that human beings, their existence and their moral world form the highest values of cinema.