Interpretation of Vasyl Stus personality in Roman Veretelnik’s «Palimpsest» feature film.

Abstract

The article focuses on the creative personality of Vasyl Stus in a short feature film by Roman Veretelnik. His film «Palimpsest» (2014) ‒ the first in Ukraine feature film about the writer Stus. So far, film criticism and comparative studies have not explored this film.

In «Palimpsest» the main role (writer Vasyl Stus) is performed by actress Galina Stefanova. She also plays other characters ‒ the judge and the writer’s mother. From the form side, Roman Veretelnik uses the principle of palimpsest ‒ the imposition of episodes. With the help of this principle new meanings arise.

The image of the writer the director creates with the help of a collage of his letters, memories of him, documentary shots. This collage helps to see one of the main images ‒ the soul. This image correlates with the biographical personality of Vasyl Stus.

In the feature film Palimpsest, the image of the writer is formed by three points of view. The first point of view is the mother, for whom the son is destroyed by enemies. But all enemies must be forgiven of their sins. The image of the mother is strengthened by divine semantics. The second point of view comes from the judge. He condemns and humiliates Stus. The image of the judge is filed as grotesque. The third point of view is the main one, the writer himself. He is served in prison. It’s in prison that Stus really creates. Although he is alone. He must give up physical life. But his spirituality becomes even stronger. Hence the image of his strong spirit.

It is proved that the director works within the poetics of expressionism and interprets Stus’s personality as a creator.