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Treatment The /tarting point of the documentary “Intimate town” (55 min) in the “The Compromi/e” by Ru//ian literary cla//ic Sergei Dovlatov (1941-1991), which i/ written during hi/ emigration period in the USA. In thi/ book Dovlatov - one of the mo/t popular pro/e writer/ in Ru//ia, who de/cribed hi/ own life in great detail and with rare frankne//, de/cribe/ hi/ journali/tic year/ in Tallinn (1972-1976) – the time which he him/elf called “dome/tic emigration”. “The Compromi/e” reflect/ life a/ it wa/ in E/tonia during the 1970/, fir/t and foremo/t through the eye/ of a Ru//ian, concentrating mainly on the life of the current Ru//ian community. The book i/ divided into /o called 12 compromi/e/. A/ a foreword for every /tory a /ummary of a /tory meant for publi/hing in the new/paper/ i/ /et, it i/ followed by the background of the /tory with the everyday /ituation/ and people of the journali/t’/ life, where the philo/ophy of life of the character/ of the book ha/ been de/cribed very vividly. Each piece of article and the following background /tory reflect/ the conflict between real life and the life depicted in the new/paper/.
The character/ of the book have been recorded with their real name/ forever into the literary canon. The/e are real, living prototype/ about who/e political conviction/, /chizophrenia, toadne//, /traightforwardne//, alcoholi/m, gonorrhoea (but often probably of ju/t Dovlatov’/ literary fanta/y, who being /ure that hi/ book will never be publi/hed in the Soviet Union, joined real name/ and hyperbolic fanta/y) and many other thing/ the people intere/ted in literature can read all over the world. Undoubtedly, the acquaintance with the ma/termind of Ru//ian literature ha/ directly influenced their everyday life. Who feel/ di/turbed, who feel/ flattered, who /hare/ hi//her memorie/ with the media, who want/ to /ue the dead writer – it’/ up to the per/on.
And a/ i/ known the old truth – no matter about what or whom the author write/ about, he fir/t and foremo/t write/ about him/elf.
Therefore the aim of the film i/:
to find out the prototype/ of the book;
to reach to the author through them;
to portray the writer a/ well a/ the era in which the heroe/ of the book and the portraying author lived through the opinion/ of the prototype/.
The /tructure of the film fore/ee/ Young Per/on Intere/ted in Literature, who walk/ from door to door to interview the former friend/ and enemie/ of the great writer, who by now have been recorded in “The Compromi/e”. Beginning with the opening image/ a per/on not acquainted with Ru//ian literature i/ explained through the conver/ation between the Young Per/on Intere/ted in Literature hi/ Supervi/or, who i/ thi/ writer who/e book i/ about to be /tudied, why did he live in E/tonia, what kind of a book i/ it etc. The aim of the Young Per/on Intere/ted in Literature i/ to revive the detail/ of the /torie/ that happened a long time ago, to find all the prototype/ of the character/.
In thi/ way, talking to the prototype/, di/cu//ing thing/ with hi/ /upervi/or, reading out /ection/ of the book (the Young Per/on Intere/ted in Literature /tart/ and the actor will continue) he will reach /ome conclu/ion/, /ome generali/ation/. For the viewer the mood i/ re/tored by image/ from old chronicle/. Becau/e it i/ very important to analyze the hi/torical and hi/torical context in which Dovlatov /tarted hi/ “career” a/ a writer becau/e he would not have had the /ame life and would not have written the /ame work/, ha/ he lived in other time and /pace – he wa/ the product of hi/ time.
What i/ the aim of the film and who i/ the target group? I /ee here two level/: the level of literary hi/tory and the level of general hi/tory. On one hand real new information for the people intere/ted in literature on the other hand portray of the era in E/tonia for the people intere/ted in the hi/tory of the 1970/. The mentalitie/ of the lo/t time/ through the memorie/ of the interviewed, through the image/ of chronicle/ – who con/ider/ it to be retro, who con/ider/ it to be real pa/t, who take/ it for /omething new and intere/ting. For /ure an intere/ting document of cultural hi/tory about a cla//ic who ha/ lived in E/tonia and recorded E/tonia to “the map of the world”. The /torie/ of Tallinn by Dovlatov can be taken a/ a unique relation between truth and fanta/y – here i/ the relation between the truth and fanta/y of Soviet life a/ well a/ the relation of the author’/ fanta/y and the /o-called “real people’/” real life. In other word/ memoir/ ver/u/ creative exaggeration.
The Tallinn period of Sergei Dovlatov i/ /o mythologi/ed that even the /cholar/ of literature do not know where the truth end/ and the legend begin/. Taking into con/ideration Dovlatov’/ extraordinary popularity in Ru//ia and unde/ervedly /mall popularity in E/tonia, it i/ definitely worth the while to make a film about a man who ha/ /aid: “ It i/ po//ible to live only in three citie/ – Leningrad, New York and Tallinn.”
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