I wasn’t feeling so well a few days ago, I had quite a wanderlust and just wanted to get away. So I sat down and tried to depict it somehow, and somehow only this one film came to mind. So I tried to put the two main characters on the page. I thought of the film poster and a scene on the train. However, it didn’t work out well, just off the top of my head, and I was quite dissatisfied. I don’t have an A3 scanner either and the thing that bothers me the most is that Ljoha actually has something like a buzzcut on and to me it looks like something out of a 50s cigarette commercial. So I’ll just post the idea – a clip and write this text here:
Plagued by wanderlust, I am incredibly receptive to such films. But not the ones where a few white men in their late 30s and early 40s drive through the desert and take a lot of drugs.
But rather the ones that aim for a very down-to-earth mood. Something you can compare yourself to and maybe think, “Yeah, I know that one”.
A film that is very relatable for me is Compartment No. 6.
In some articles they say it’s a drama, in others it’s a dramatic road movie. I wonder where the drama is here. In German, the word drama has a very different connotation than in English.
The timing of the film’s release was difficult. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in July 2021, but was only released in German-speaking cinemas in March 2022. Conceivably unfavourable for a film that takes place half in Russian, where this giant dick Putin is about to destroy an entire country.
The countries of production are Finland, Estonia, Germany and Russia. The languages of the film are Finnish and Russian.
I can only recommend watching this film in its original language. I briefly heard the German sync in a trailer and in my opinion it just sucks.
The female lead is played by Seidi Haarla (Laura in the film), she is just adorable. The male lead is played by Yuri Borisov, I don’t know that much about him, who knows many important or real things about actresses? After all, they are only human. But what I can say is that the few Russians I know are incredibly similar to this Yuri – Ljoha in the film.
The film takes place in the years when the Soviet Union is disintegrating, I existed at that time too, but I was much younger than Laura in the film. But that’s a point of reference for me. Well, Laura comes to Moscow and hangs out in this flat-sharing community where there are always these really cool intellectual parties and stuff. She’s quite in love with Irina, or at least that’s what she thinks. Laura is studying archaeology in Finland and she actually wants to go with Irina to see these petroglyphs in Kanosero. They are ancient rock paintings. But nope – that’s not going to happen. I don’t want to spoil too much, that’s not really the point.
Laura goes off on her own to this remote area, because rock paintings are somehow always in such remote areas.
She then travels on a train that is super crammed with people, but she has a compartment – with the “disadvantage”? that she has to share it with Ljoha. Such a cliché to the power of 10.
It’s all a mixture of various unpleasant but understandable situations – along the lines of – it could happen to you at some point in your life.
She wants to change her job in St. Petersburg, but Irina somehow doesn’t get it on the phone.
So she continues on her way. It is not possible to change compartments, so she is stuck with Ljoha again. Slowly they become friends in a strange way.
And from then on I go along. From here on, my heart is somehow in it. And that’s not a romance or anything. Actually, it’s all pretty unlikely and hopeless from the start. Ljoha is on his way to work, he is a mountain farmer and Laura is a student who wants to see something he has never heard of before. He’s a pretty simple guy and she seems to be checking out what she wants first during the whole journey. Both of them go through a development while they sleep away the morning drunk on a Russian granny’s bench or steal cars.
There is also this moment when a Finn gets on board and Laura then trusts the compatriot almost immediately. That backfires, proving once again that this is nonsense.
When they arrive at the train’s destination, they go their separate ways. Then Laura also learns that she can’t visit these rock paintings in winter. And then it gets romantic – but I won’t say anything about that, just watch the film. Really.
Voyage Voyage by Desireless is played over and over again the whole bloody time. https://youtu.be/NlgmH5q9uNk My goodness, and really loud in the cinema. That was pretty impressive and just good.
I would super love to read the book, unfortunately there’s only the Finnish version on google books or something. The translation is out of print, in English and in German. It’s almost like Chimo’s “says Lila”.
Voyage Voyage
Voyage Voyage
Voyage Voyage …
VOYAGE VOYAGE …
Voyage voyage
Plus loin que la nuit et le jour (voyage, voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Dans l’espace inouï de l’amour
Voyage voyage
Sur l’eau sacrée d’un fleuve indien (voyage, voyage)
Voyage (voyage)
Et jamais ne reviens
