Since Otar Left
| Since Otar Left (Depuis qu'Otar est parti...) |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Julie Bertuccelli |
| Produced by | Yael Fogiel |
| Written by |
Julie Bertuccelli Bernard Renucci |
| Starring |
Esther Gorintin Nino Khomasuridze Dinara Drukarova |
| Cinematography | Christophe Pollock |
| Edited by | Emmanuelle Castro |
| Distributed by | Haut et Court |
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Release date
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Running time
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103 minutes |
| Country |
France Belgium |
| Language |
Georgian French Russian |
Since Otar Left (original French title: Depuis qu'Otar est parti...) is a 2003 film by director Julie Bertuccelli, recounting the lives of three Georgian women in modern-day Tbilisi. It focuses on the attempts of a mother and daughter, Marina (Nino Khomasuridze) and Ada (Dinara Drukarova), to hide the death of Marina's brother in Paris from her elderly mother, Eka (Esther Gorintin). The film was widely well-received, and won the coveted Critics' Week Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
The three women live together in the same run-down apartment in one of Tbilisi's oldest neighborhoods. They bear many of the realities of life in modern Georgia, such as frequent power blackouts and dilapidated infrastructure. Amidst this, Eka remains the matriarch of the family. She retains an often fractious relationship with her daughter, Marina, but is very close to her granddaughter, Ada. However, it is her beloved son Otar (an unseen character), that she is most attached to.
At the opening of the film, the audience learns that Otar Gogebashvili, although a doctor by profession, has recently moved to France because of the difficult economic situation in newly independent Georgia. In Paris, he works illegally on construction sites in order to financially support his family back in Georgia. Eka eagerly awaits Otar's regular phone calls and the money he sends home from France. The difference between the generations is apparent: Eka loves French culture, speaks perfect French but remains a Stalinist, even in 2002, whereas Ada is quite Westernized, and longs to follow her uncle's path and move to the West. Marina has university degree but due to the high unemployment in Post Soviet Georgia sells heirlooms at the market.
Their life then changes drastically when Marina receives a call from Otar's friend, Niko (Duta Skhirtladze), who had accompanied him to France. Niko bears bad news: Otar has been killed in an accident. Eka is elderly and fragile, and Marina and Ada both agree that the shock of the death of her beloved son could kill her. In a similar manner to the German film Good Bye Lenin!, which was released in the same year, the pair decides to conceal Otar's death from Eka.
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Wikipedia