Chekhov’s Motifs

Petro, a student and the eldest child of a large and devout rural family, is about to leave for the city to study. At dinner, he asks his father for money, and an argument unexpectedly ensues. To avoid an escalating confrontation, Petro opts to immediately leave home. A random driver offers him a ride into the city, but suggests they first attend a wedding at a local village church where mafiosi from the neighboring city get married. Filmed in real time, the Orthodox wedding ceremony in Chekhov’s Motifs translates into a “vanity fair.” Far from feeling any religious devotion, the guests grow increasingly bored while the exhausted groom begins to hallucinate from fatigue. Kira Muratova builds this scene as a critique of the post-Soviet obsession with public displays of devotion to religion, emphasizing with irony how spirituality has become employed as mere ornament. Seeking the meaning of death and its symbolism, Muratova reminds the viewer of the illusory nature of the majestic and the revered.