Save and Protect

Save and Protect
Directed byAlexander Sokurov
Written byYuri Arabov
StarringCécile Zervudacki
Robert Vaab
CinematographySergey Yurizditskiy
Edited byLeda Semyonova
Music byYuri Khanon
Release date
  • 1989 (1989) (Soviet Union)
Running time
167 minutes (original version)
128 minutes (re-edited version)
CountrySoviet Union
LanguagesRussian
French

Save and Protect (Russian: Spasi i sokhrani) is a 1989 Soviet historical drama film directed by Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov, starring Cécile Zervudacki and Robert Vaab. It depicts the decline of a childlike woman as she engages in adultery and falls into crippling debt. It is loosely adapted from Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary.[1]

Cast

  • Cécile Zervudacki as Emma
  • Robert Vaab as Charles

Reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times commented that what pushes the film forward is "Emma's escalating desperation and madness, reflected in a montage of images and sound of increasingly odd design."[1]

The film won the FIPRESCI prize at the 1989 Montreal World Film Festival.[2]

References