Film by Andrey Zvyagintsev "Dislike". How much is happiness?
"Dislike" - sounds like a sentence in the silence of the bedroom. Why is life like this? Why is simple human happiness so unattainable, despite all attempts to achieve it? Before it's too late, we must find the answers. And they are.
Chilly autumn air hangs coldly, inexorably falling on the shoulders with the weight of being. A lonely forest ready to go into hibernation, and a silent schoolyard a minute before the bell rings. Loneliness … How does everyone's soul respond? Happiness … What does it mean for any of us? ………………………………………………………
Dialogue of unnecessary people to each other
Evening. Glass of wine and phone blinking. She abruptly scans the feed on social networks. The silence is broken by the sound of the opening door …
- Hello. Are we resting?
- What do you want?
- Nothing …
- Cho? What are you staring at? Don't grit your teeth!
- How did you get me!
- Beast!
The conversation is gaining momentum, they are no longer shy in expressions. Hatred splashes in different directions. The feeling that these are fierce enemies. The reality is this: husband and wife decided that they are no longer together, their love has lost its meaning. Another family that decided to divorce.
There is one more participant in this conversation …
He is in the next room, outside the door. He hears everything, to the last interjection. Every sound of parental voices beats an alarm in his heart. A soundless scream tears at his face, his whole being is continuous sobs.
They do not know that at the time of the conversation, the son was not sleeping - he did not open up to them, he remained stunned by his pain. A child, alone with the bitter truth: in their new life he is not needed. They don't need him.
Nobody needs him here …
Parents change their lives easily. She is with another man, He is with another woman. We are accustomed to living in the absolute conviction that in a different place / with another person / under different circumstances, everything will certainly be better.
Adults are free to change their home, job, wife, husband … A child has no such right. He cannot choose other parents - an absolute dependence on two adults who no longer want him. Now he is an obstacle on their way to happiness in their new life.
She
Powerful, strong, strong. Rude, impudent, decisive. Well-groomed, bold, seductive.
With a new lover, Zhenya speaks in a different voice. Softly, tenderly, pliant. Her choice is obvious. He's the one she needs. She opens her soul to him - quivering, deprived of attention and love since childhood.
Her mother is “Stalin in a skirt,” according to her husband. “Lonely bitch; discipline, order, study … Doesn't caress. He will not say a good word. Zhenya says that she never loved anyone, only her in childhood.
A young woman confesses to her lover that she did not want to give birth to a child, she just "flew". I thought to have an abortion, it became scary - I succumbed to persuasion and left the child. And when I was born, I could not look at him. "Some kind of disgust … There was not even milk."
"Dislike" - sounds like a sentence in the silence of the bedroom.
An unwanted child from an unloved man forces you to love. How to get out of this? The child demands from the mother. This is his legal right. Any mother feels this, and not everyone has the desire to give. Emptiness.
"I'm the last thing, right?"
A woman dreams of happiness - how can you judge her? No, we all strive for it - it is given to us by nature. Another question - will new relationships bring happiness? What can the other person change in ourselves, when the ability to feel is completely killed or not developed due to serious suffering and deprivation in childhood?
He
Inconspicuous, simple, indecisive. Thorough and laconic.
Young pregnant woman near. With her, "everything is different." Only the former family gets in the way. You have to hide the truth about divorce: a deeply religious boss does not approve of employee divorces. It's so painful to lie. Boris is caught in the grip of his own life.
In one of the conversations he slips: he is an orphan. Grew up without parents. Without the warmth of the family, apparently that's why he dreamed so much about his own. As unhappy and deprived as Zhenya. Upon learning of her pregnancy, he insisted on marriage. I wanted everything to be like people.
They
Physical injuries are conspicuous and difficult to hide. You will not see the breakdown of your soul right away. She hides behind the facade of masks, the rules of decency and education. Ordinary people, not sadists, not monsters. We are united by a common feature - the inability to love. The absolute impossibility of feeling another person: even if it is a “loved one” or … your own child.
The film shows a seemingly ordinary situation. A man and a woman who no longer want to be together. This phenomenon has become so frequent that it is already considered commonplace. Children are involved in almost every such story. This is the most vulnerable and suffering side in divorce. They cannot find their happiness without parental love.
Zhenya and Boris dream of wonderful prospects, which will certainly come as soon as they free themselves from each other. Following their interests and new desires, they do not hesitate to sacrifice everything they had … All their past life, each other. And with her the boy's life. In an unthinkable race for happiness, they are not able to think about others, including about their child - he himself realized that he has no future …
When there was not a single person nearby to lean against.
Zhenya woke up late in the morning and found that Alyosha had not been home since yesterday. And they didn't see him at school. Nobody really knows where he is.
The search for the "slider" began. Police, rescue squad.
Zhenya and Boris, on the advice of volunteers, go to the Moscow region to visit Zhenya's mother in the hope that the child has fled there.
- I gave birth to my head. Tit on! Zamkala … All climbed? Will you have tea?
- No, mom, thanks, we'll go …
- Oh, look, how polite!
- What, press on pity? The belly walked, said, change your mind. Now clean up!
- What are you talking about? I would be ashamed of a stranger.
“You don’t have to make a fool out of me. They snuggled up in the middle of the night like thieves … brought the appraiser. I won't write you home.
A terrible conversation of the closest people in the world. Mom and daughter … Every word is poison.
Left alone, her mother put her head in her hands. Pain. Where to find love and warmth when there is only hatred and fear inside. Both mother and daughter have a vicious circle.
"Dislike" - as a sentence to all humanity in the inability to love.
He and She … Again
And the body of their boy. They don't have the strength to admit his death. They don't want to recognize him. They have to get to know him.
“I would never give it up! Never! she shouted in the morgue.
They lost a child - and both died instantly. Here it is, such a desired freedom. Zhenya is with his beloved, Boris has a new family and a child - but there is no joy …
By focusing entirely on our lacks and needs, we forget about others, including children. So much we want happiness for ourselves.
We do not notice the partner with whom we are about to part, we have forgotten about the child who remains "out of work", and the new partner, from whom we so longed for happiness, did not give it to us … Why is that?
Dislike for everyone around us, and a passionate desire to receive happiness from all of them is reflected by emptiness in HIS and HER eyes. The film's chilling finale makes it clear that they never found what they were looking for …
**
Why is life like this? Why is simple human happiness so unattainable, despite all attempts to achieve it?
Before it's too late, we must find the answers. And they are.
