Taip toliau film club: Eve of Ivan Kupala

Dir. Yuri Ilyenko
Ukraine | 1968 | 71 min. | Ukrainian | Lithuanian, English subtitles

Yuri Ilyenko rose to fame as a cinematographer, having shot Sergei Parajanov’s film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964). His second film as a director, Eve of Ivan Kupala (1968), was based on a short story by Mykola Hohol, a Ukrainian variation on the Faust legend. Like his directorial debut A Well for the Thirsty (1965), Eve of Ivan Kupala was banned by Soviet authorities, who cited Ukrainian nationalism and formalism as the reasons.

In this love story about a young peasant named Petro and the unattainable daughter of a landowner, Ilyenko weaves in deep layers of Ukrainian mythology. The girl’s father disapproves of their relationship, wishing to marry her off not to a mere worker but to a wealthy landowner. In despair, Petro encounters Basavriuk—likely the devil himself—who offers him a deal that could help him get what he desires.
One of the few Ukrainian films shot on 70mm, Eve of Ivan Kupala captivates with vivid colors, magical mise-en-scènes, and surrealism. Freely shifting between genres, from comedy to horror, the film takes viewers on a dizzying journey, part of which was shot in a village that now lies submerged beneath the waters of the Kaniv Reservoir.