La maison de fous

I love this movie. The third time I watched it, it made me laugh and it made me cry. I know that a lot of people are not going to like this movie. It's like a poem.... you get it or you don't. People complain about the Bryan Adams segments. I thought they were too few and not long enough. They were Zhanna's dreams.... her escape. And after you feel Janna's frustration, unhappiness, and pain you welcome the relief and warm colors of the Bryan Adams escape from reality. The movie has some very surreal scenes. One of them is the scene where Zhanna is looking at her wedding pictures in her room while the Chechen sniper is shooting out her window. Yuliya Vysotskaya is wonderful as Zhanna. Her face is so child-like and expressive. She doesn't even need to speak; I can read her mind in her face. She's a really great actor. I love the scene where she discovers Ahmed in front of her in the lunch line. She says nothing, but her face changes several times, showing some strong emotions that you cannot understand unless you've seen the entire movie up to that point. Zhanna has some funny little quirks, like the way she steps over every doorway threshold. But I thought it odd that I didn't laugh or cry until the third viewing. The first time, I was just in awe. I was just wide eyed with amazement.

But by the third time I loved and understood the characters, especially Zhanna, and so I could feel the movie.

House of Fools follows the lives of a group of patients abandoned at a psychiatric hospital during the Chechen War in Russia. The protagonist, Janna (Yuliya Vysotskaya), must reconcile her dreams/delusions for a happy life (with Canadian pop star, Bryan Adams) and the real, violent war going on around her.

Offering an insightful parallel between the minds of psychiatric patients and war-torn soldiers (from both sides of the war), the director, Andrei Konchalovsky, poses the questions: What is "madness" and who is truly "crazy"? Without losing its quirky humor, the film's questions are brought to light through emotionally moving and complex characters and plot.

Konchalovsky provides a sympathetic contrast between the psychiatric patients and soldiers upholding his theme that true insanity comes from human aggression like war rather than mental disorders. The film first depicts the psychiatric patients as "crazy"; however, the arrival of the soldiers and war suggest a role reversal. The insanity of violence and two sides fighting against each other (who had previously fought with each other in the Soviet war in Afghanistan) is highlighted, while holding on to something—a hope for love, dreams, fantasies, and, above all, humanity—is presented as the combatant to insanity.

For those who love quirky films with deeper emotional and philosophical meanings, this film provides a perfect balance. Yuliya Vysotskaya's performance as Janna is astonishing. At moments she makes you feel both utterly sad and joyously optimistic at the same time. She plays the role beautifully and intelligently, using her humor as relatable and lovable, rather than as a gimmick. Not only is the film shot beautifully, but the plot and character are just so interesting that one is left wanting to watch it over again with somebody new. I would definitely recommend it to all of my friends and family. If not for the cinematography, moving themes, plot, and characters, then for the references and appearance of Bryan Adams which is just funny.

WARNING! - People who consider Armageddon the best movie ever made or Pearl Harbor one of the true war movies ever made. PLEASE do not read this comment or watch this movie. Go watch X-men instead or vote for Bush one more time. Thank you.

Ok for the ones who do not categorize themselves to the previous mentioned group. That means a least you know what a great movie is.

And guess what? - This is a great movie whether you Like it or Not. You will be amazed how this movie will make you think and feel after you have watched it.

Let me start from the technical point of view. One of the most impressive things in this picture is cinematography (camera movements, colors, lightning). Starting right from the begging and till the very last minute. Just great.

Acting. If you have seen the movie you definitely know what I am talking about. The storyline of this movie plays in the psychiatric hospital in Chechnya, so most of the leading characters are mentally unstable, so I think you get the picture. Sometimes you can't distinguish real actors from mentally ill and believe me, what you will see on the screen comes very, very close to real life.

The screenplay has no flaws, yes it has none. If you have some trouble understanding something in this movie, that only means three things: 1. You are not Russian and you have trouble understanding some little details of Russian culture, language or war in Chechnya. (I will give you example below) 2. You belong to above-mentioned group of the audience.(see WARNING) 3. You are completely Dump (in this case go read some books, no don't go watch CNN and say `Year I know this' I mean books, talk to people, debate, learn something ect.)

Example.. There is a moment in the movie when a camera tracks over the floor in the hospital and there is a TV set. TV broadcasting an interview with one of the generals of Russian army and a reporter asks him `Don't you think it is insane to go into Grozny first with tanks and then by ground forces' For average western audience no body even understood what it is about.

In the real life this decision caused allot of casualties. It was very stupid move. Even some of the military guys who were there and have seen this shit, admitted to that. Plus the vocabulary (Russian), which is used in this movie, is quiet strong and sometimes funny for Russian speaking though.

There is only one thing that can be a little `to much' and that is the Bryn Adams song. And still this is only for non-Russian audience. Because this is actually shows that this is the only thing in the main characters life and the passion for the western music especially in the beginning of 90s in Russia.

I think that I have written enough. For those who have not seen this picture and actually read till this point of my review I strongly advise to see this motion picture. You definitely will like it. Because, this is one of the best Russian movies of all times.

A hospital near a monorail.A merciless war.The soldiers' grimness.The psychiatrist left his "psihushka" to seek means of securing his patients.The clinic is taken over alternatively by Chechens and by Russians,and made over into a battle scene.

The mad people:some are grovelling,others are grumpy,others grinning, contentious, fractious, petulant,forlorn, babyish,foul, fossils of disease.

The Chechen soldiers are portly,while some of the young ones are very handsome.

My favorite scene is the Chechens' song:heart-breaking and manly.It also offers a sample of the beauty and musical valences of that Oriental language.One of the best musical moments in cinema's history.

"Dom ..." is made of suavity and infinite tenderness.The story is limber.In depth,this flick about an amorous insane woman is a parable about the ambiguity of life.The score is a profusion of beauty and Oriental privacy.

Mrs. Vysotskaya is amazing as "Jana";the rest of the cast is first-class.

Visually,the movie is not as beautiful as many Russian movies are (e.g.,Utomlyonnye Solntsem).The photography is deliberately made to look like that of a documentary.The hospital is not grisly;"Dom Durakov" is not about madness in a clinical sense,nor war,nor love,for what love could be that;it is about the ambiguity of life,about the hidden infinite suavity.The hospital itself is a parable.It is a clinic of parable and symbol,not one of cruel naturalism.The aesthetics is one of insobriety,extravagance,fancy and powerful exuberance.

"Dom ..." features a pleasurable and plain cosmopolitanism:Adams and Chechen songs.

Konchalovsky is back in high form,with this work of contemplation and insight.

Tocilescu,the Romanian director,praised to the skies this film's richness.

For some I can't stop thinking about this little gem of a movie, it has more heart and soul than most of an entire decade of mainstream films combined. Konchalovsky is an interesting director, certainly when you think at the wide range of his work (Runaway Train, Shy People). I was somewhat fascinated and semi-perplexed when I first saw this, but the more I tried to peg it down ("ok this is the Russian Cookoo's Nest--with some 'I Never Promised you a Rose Garden' mixed in") the less it became so. This is an original one of a kind film, highly underrated, highly overlooked, especially in this country. Which is too bad, the rest of the sleepwalking brainwashed masses can flock to see their "Bruce Almighty's or Matrix Reloaded's every week, I'm glad I'm aware of films like this.