They say celebrity culture or professionalism in the arena
of politics, music, film or particularly sports creates something of a
disconnect for the celeb from within their Fabergé egg. When the very thing you live for or have come
to know suddenly drops out from under you, where do you go from there? How would you react or press on? Can you press on without the shame and
humiliation of falling from grace doing you in?
A common crisis within sports dramas, this very question is asked
beautifully in films like Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, Andrei
Konchalovsky’s Duet for One and in particular Isaak Fridberg’s 1988
Soviet-Russian gymnastics psychological drama/horror piece Kukolka translated
into A Little Doll. In a
coming-of-age/sports film that unintentionally and ironically echoed the life
story of its leading actress Svetlana Zasypkina, it’s a sustained unblinking
regard for the unraveling of a young woman unable to adjust from her high
lifestyle of a professional gymnast to ordinary high-school student and how
such a shaky transition can prove fatal.
Still trained to be a ruthless
go-getter in gymnastics, Tatyana applies this to her school setting and quickly
becomes a formidable superior to her classmates who find themselves warming up
to her including but not limited to taking on her beleaguered class teacher
Elena (Irina Metlitskaya) who may or may not have had an illicit affair with
one of her students. Falling for her
classmate Alexey (Dmitry Zubarev), the increasingly destructive and hostile Tatyana
soon finds herself in existential crisis feeling her cards have been dealt with
few other options left in a disturbing crescendo towards self-destruction.
Svetlana Zasypkina herself
trained as a competitive gymnast until the age of sixteen and, like Tatyana,
suffered a spinal injury and was forced to drop out, lending an additional
layer of realism and authenticity to the proceedings. Vladimir Menshov as the stern coach is maybe
underutilized but definitely leaves an impression and Natalya Nazarova as
Tatyana’s estranged mother is sure to evoke a measure of dogged sympathy for
our conflicted heroine. A striking shot near the end shows a Christ-like image our deeply troubled Tatyana clutching the bar of the gymnast bar, as though this profession she has strived for is her cross to bear.
Released in 1988 to Soviet cinemas, the film went on to win
several international film awards including but not limited to West Berlin’s
UNICEF and CIFZEH prizes, the 1990 All-Union Film Festival of Sports Films top
prize and the Best Actress Award at the Paris Film Festival for Svetlana
Zasypkina. As a Michigander it was a
minor delight seeing Sam Raimi’s timeless homegrown horror epic being screened
overseas at a video club nearing the tail end of the Soviet Union.
As a distinctly celebrity driven Russian
sports drama which segues back into the classroom setting of ordinary citizens,
it becomes a steadily scathing critique of the sports system unable to care for
its performers properly and a school system unable to adjust to someone coming
in who feels they are above the laws and rules of the teacher. A film that poses more questions than it
provides answers and eventually a startling, even horrific piece, A Little
Doll is a powerful sports/coming-of-age drama that should be seen more
widely outside its country of origin and take its rightful place alongside
contemporary character studies of individuals in crisis doing what they love.
--Andrew Kotwicki