Kira Muratova’s debut solo feature showcases the full range of her impressionistic, radical aesthetic style. Naturally, that meant it was banned by Soviet censors for twenty years. Born to a Russian father and a Romanian Jewish mother, she spent much of her life in Ukraine, making many of her works in the port city of Odessa.

Brief Encounters centres on an entangled love triangle between Valentina, a bureaucratic Communist Party functionary (Muratova herself) and her geologist husband Maxim (Vladimir Vysotsky, a famed Soviet singer). When country girl Nadia (Nina Ruslanova) is hired as a maid, Valentina is totally unaware Nadia is already infatuated with Maxim after he visited her village.

The fragmented, non-chronological order Muratova adopts enables her to bring out her perceptive observational skills in the depiction of two women from entirely differing backgrounds, connected by fates, failures and romance.

Restored in 4K by STUDIOCANAL in collaboration with The Criterion Collection at L’Immagine Ritrovata/Éclair Classics.

---