OF FREAKS AND MEN
ПРО УРОДОВ И ЛЮДЕЙ



Russia, 1998, 93 min, black & white / color

In turn-of-the-century St. Petersburg, a middle-class family and an upper-class family both become intertwined with pornographic photographer Johann. Dr. Stasov treats railroad engineer Radlov. Johann takes an interest in both the doctor's maid and Radlov's daughter Lisa. Johann's sister Grunya is Radlov's mistress, Johann is thwarted in his lust for Lisa - until Grunya takes over Radlov's estate after the engineer's death.

"Of Freaks аnd Men is unique in its premise that sex is the sinister undoing of both the innocent and the evil. Cinematographer Sergei Astakhov's carefully modulated and composed sepia-tone images are both disconcerting and hypnotically mood-enhancing. While the distancing effect may be counter-productive to the drama, it does lend an aura of the faded, forlorn days when the combination of sex and photography was new."