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IMDbPro

Des monstres et des hommes

Original title: Pro urodov i lyudey
  • 1998
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
4.7K
YOUR RATING
Des monstres et des hommes (1998)
ComedyDramaHistory

Dariya the maid getting a boy to touch her large breast is just one incident that occurs when Yohan and Victor infiltrate two families, forcing young Liza and blind Ekaterina to appear in po... Read allDariya the maid getting a boy to touch her large breast is just one incident that occurs when Yohan and Victor infiltrate two families, forcing young Liza and blind Ekaterina to appear in porn, but they are not so innocent themselves.Dariya the maid getting a boy to touch her large breast is just one incident that occurs when Yohan and Victor infiltrate two families, forcing young Liza and blind Ekaterina to appear in porn, but they are not so innocent themselves.

  • Director
    • Aleksey Balabanov
  • Writer
    • Aleksey Balabanov
  • Stars
    • Sergey Makovetskiy
    • Dinara Drukarova
    • Anzhelika Nevolina
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    4.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Aleksey Balabanov
    • Writer
      • Aleksey Balabanov
    • Stars
      • Sergey Makovetskiy
      • Dinara Drukarova
      • Anzhelika Nevolina
    • 34User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 11 wins & 10 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:03
    Trailer

    Photos32

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    Top cast34

    Edit
    Sergey Makovetskiy
    Sergey Makovetskiy
    • Yohan
    Dinara Drukarova
    Dinara Drukarova
    • Liza
    Anzhelika Nevolina
    Anzhelika Nevolina
    • Ekaterina Kirillovna
    • (as Lika Nevolina)
    Viktor Sukhorukov
    Viktor Sukhorukov
    • Victor Ivanovich
    Alyosha Dyo
    • Kolia
    • (as Dyo Alyosha)
    Chingiz Tsydendambayev
    • Tolia
    Vadim Prokhorov
    • Putilov
    Aleksandr Mezentsev
    Aleksandr Mezentsev
    • Doctor Stasov
    Igor Shibanov
    Igor Shibanov
    • Engineer Radlov
    Darya Yurgens
    Darya Yurgens
    • Grunia
    • (as Darya Lesnikova)
    Tatyana Polonskaya
    • Dariya
    Olga Straumit
    • Nurse
    Richard Bogutskii
    • Notary
    Valeri Krishtapenko
    Valeri Krishtapenko
    • Owner of photographic studio
    Evgeniy Erokhin
    • Priest
    Yuriy Galtsev
    Yuriy Galtsev
    • Impresario
    Boris Smolkin
    Boris Smolkin
    • Photographer at studio
    Mikhail Tryasorukov
    • Administrator
    • Director
      • Aleksey Balabanov
    • Writer
      • Aleksey Balabanov
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews34

    6.94.6K
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    Featured reviews

    Vincentiu

    deep bitter

    remarkable as portrait of survive of a world. for the images. for the inspired cast. and for the courage. a film about freaks and sins, about appearances and profit, about victims as reflections of cruelty against them. and the perfect music as respiration of story. a puzzle of characters. and the links who defines each. traces of absurd and pornography. and a new era.at first sigh, a Russian Salo. in fact, only sketch of a society after Communism.cold, direct, without masks. or, maybe, a parable. its sense seems be not very important. because it could be a film about viewer. a puzzle for self definition. or a testimony about the secret rooms of few lives.
    7kril10

    Of Freaks and Men: A Modern Capitalistic Reflection

    Alexei's Balabanov's Of Freaks of Men was a quite strange yet interesting viewing experience. The film mechanics and overall setting seemed to contradict the content that was being portrayed, perhaps to construct a novel "Balabanov" perspective. For instance, the use of pre- Revolutionary Tsarist Russia as a setting, complete with bourgeois colonnade backdrops and 19th century luxuries and proprieties, to display an underground pornography business that slowly takes over the lives of the main characters was quite an unexpected juxtaposition. The use of "brown-screen" (black and white?), intertitles, and classical music further strengthened this divide, almost making it seem like the organized crime of Balabanov's Brother 2 existed and was captured on film in the early days of cinema!

    There are several ways one can interpret this artistic leap. One interesting perspective is to view the decline of the doctor's and engineer's Bourgeois families at the hands of the exploiting Johann as yet another example of the failure of Capitalism in the eyes of a Communist. The fathers of the two families made their money in a hog- eat-hog Capitalistic world, and their children (Tolya/Kolya and Liza respectively) ended up being used by a bigger Capitalist hog, Johann the pornographer. An alternative view would be a demonstration of how post- Soviet Russian organized crime was not an artifact of that particular era, and that it existed underground since before even Communism. That would have turned the movie into a nationalistic excuse for the deterioration that occurred in Russia after Gorbachev.

    Although other views can be constructed, I feel like this movie was nevertheless a very successful and creative experiment on Balabanov's part. He has captured the new in the style of the very old to create a unique movie.
    8Koli

    Bleak but refreshingly different and evocative

    In an era in which the video shop shelves and TV schedules are dominated by formula-pap, it is refreshing to find a film that stimulates thought for days afterwards. The question is: what's it all about? Is the film commenting on life in pre-revolutionary Russia, on the exploitation of 'freaks', on the corrupting power of pornography, or perhaps none or all of these? I came away from it thinking that the film was primarily about the ways in which film-making can be misused; that it examined the role of those drawn into 'the pornography industry' whether exploiter, exploited, or idealistic artist more interested in technique than subject matter. In thinking about that interpretation I found myself pondering the role of Putilov, seemingly an idealist; would it not be more accurate to describe him as amoral, as the artist determined to remain aloof from the degradation and humiliation required for completion of his projects?

    I think the film raises questions about the extent to which the film-maker can remain untarnished by the moral issues that he purports to examine objectively and from a detached perspective. If Putilov agrees to co-operate in the filming or photography of the naked, frightened Siamese twins or of the whipping of a young woman can he really escape responsibility for their plight? Is he really entitled to walk away with his reputation intact? The immoral Johann is easier to condemn: he is a sadist who will kill at the drop of a hat to preserve his way of life and business. A jury would take much longer to decide its verdict on Putilov.
    Cinebug

    Marvelous Psycho-Sexual Film With Authentic Period Atmosphere

    OF FREAKS AND MEN is a constantly interesting story and film-------very well photographed---------about a strange, psychopathic pornographer who makes movies of women being whipped by a "nanny" for the underground market at the turn of the century. The film is shot in a sepia tone to give a nice authenticity to the proceedings. If you've seen photographs from the fin-de-siecle, you realize what marvelous recreations of those romantic-------though risqué--------photographs the filmmakers have achieved. Many of them look very much like the photographs of Julia Margaret Cameron----------one of the finest photographers working after the Civil War, who specialized in photographing women in dream like, highly romantic, almost spiritual scenes. She never did photos like this, of course, but the same care was taken in the art direction of this film.

    But most interesting of all is the psychological workings of the minds of the very respectable middle class characters who find themselves drawn to this seedy business against their wills, but are quite willing to pursue their newfound inner freedom after the pornographer has left. This is one of Image Entertainment's most artistic releases for 2001. More please.

    Jay F.
    7paul2001sw-1

    Of freaks and film

    Very odd Russian film, with a modern, almost postmodern theme (concerning Siamese twins and pornography), but set in the early years of the twentieth century and shot in a faux-naive style that one might almost believe was that of films from this period, if one was not aware of what they were really like. There's much to enjoy: the beautiful sepia photography (of the Russian winter, and of eyeballs); great facial acting; the downright oddness of plot, scene composition characterisation and movement; the sudden discontinuities, and the semi-random, peculiarly worded captions. Hardly a movie in the traditional sense, but still a work of art.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Connections
      Referenced in Vecherniy Urgant: Sergey Selyanov (2015)
    • Soundtracks
      Leaf from an Album (Lyric Pieces, Opus 12)
      Composed by Edvard Grieg

      Arranged by Vladimir Radcenkov

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    FAQ13

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 8, 1999 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • Russia
    • Language
      • Russian
    • Also known as
      • Of Freaks and Men
    • Filming locations
      • St. Petersburg, Russia
    • Production companies
      • CTB Film Company
      • Soyuzkino
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 33 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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