History Film / TheAsthenicSyndrome

Its first part is dedicated to a woman who tries to cope with the loss of her husband. Its second part tells about a schoolteacher who suffers of the titular asthenic syndrome. [[spoiler: Actually the first, shorter, part of the film is a movie demonstrated to the said schoolteacher. He sleeps in his seat after everyone quits the movie hall after the movie ends.]]

* [[AsHimself As Herself]]: Olga Antonovna who plays Natalya Ivanovna as well as herself [[spoiler: as the actress who played in the film making up the first part of the whole movie. ]]

* FalseRapeAccusation: And how! Natalya Ivanovna stands at the tram stop with one man and no-one else. After some time she assaults him, he is first astonished then strikes back and hits her to the ground. Then she starts to shout that he tries to rape her. However several people suddenly arrive and say that they saw that she herself attacked him first. Then they all go away, including the man who was waiting for the tram with Natalya Ivanovna in the beginning.

The Asthenic Syndrome is a 1989 Soviet film (made in the Russian language in Odessa, Ukrainian SSR) by Creator/KiraMuratova. It was shot after the Perestroika stepped in and the director was allowed to freely make her cinema once more as the previous ban had been lifted.

It first part is dedicated to a woman who tries to cope with a loss of her husband. Its second part tells about a schoolteacher who suffers of the titular asthenic syndrome. [[spoiler: Actually the first, shorter, part of the film is a movie demonstrated to the said schoolteacher. He sleeps in his seat after everyone quits the movie hall after the movie ends.]]

This is arguably a go-to movie when one thinks about Kira Muratova. Even though both much earlier Briefs Encounters (1967) and much later The Tuner (2004) are also respected.

* AsHimself: Olga Antonovna who plays Natalya Ivanovna as well as herself [[spoiler: as the actress who played in the film making up the first part of the whole movie. ]]
* CelebrityParadox: Subverted as after the show of an arhouse film the lector who wants to discuss it with the audience lists Guerman, Sokurov and Muratova (the main directors of the Soviet arthouse) as auteurs who deserve more attention. Thus Muratova the director also exists in the universe of The Asthenic Syndrome. People who are annoyed by film promptly leave the movie hall anyway.
* CrapsackWorld: The life in the Soviet Ukraine during the Perestroika is very much this. Everything is decaying, most people are less than adequate.

* DownerBeginning: It starts with the funeral of the main character's husband. To put it midly she does not take his death lightly.

* ExcessiveMourning: For Natalya Ivanovna who is so aggrieved by the death of her husband that she attacks people around, both familiar and strange.
* FalseRapeAccusation: And how! Natalya Ivanovna stands at the tram stop with one man and no-one else. After some time she assaults him, he is first astonished then strikes back and hits her to the ground. Then she starts to shout that he tries to rape her. However several people suddenly arrive and tell that they saw that she herself attacked him first. Then they all go away including the man who was waiting for the tram with Natalya Ivanovna in the beginning.
* HalfwayPlotSwitch: The first and second part of the film are connected only [[spoiler: because the first part is a film within a film watched by the character of the second parrt]]. It is not exactly halfway as the first part is much shorter.
* KickTheDog: The mood of the film is set when a group of gravediggers make a thing that would now be condemned by the whole internets. They harass a cat and attach a tin to her tail. In the end cats dashes away and one of the men who tries to snatch her by the tail catches the tin instand and remains with the tin unfastened from the cat. That implies that the people are both cruel and maladroit.
* ShowWithinAShow: [[spoiler: The first film is actually demonstrated in-universe of the film that follows.]]

* ShowWithinAShow: [[spoiler: The first film is actually demonstrated in-universe of the film that follows.]]

* CelebrityParadox: Subverted as after the show of an arhouse film the lector who wants to discuss it with the audience lists Guerman, Sokurov and Muratova (the main directors of the Soviet arthouse) as auteurs who deserve more attantion. Thus Muratova the director also exists in the universe of The Asthenic Syndrome. People who are annoyed by film promptly leave the movie hall anyway.
* CrapsackWorld: The life in Soviet Ukraine during the Perestroika is very much this. Everything is decaying, everyone is less than adequate.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The first part of the film
* DownerBeginning: It starts with the funeral of the main character's husband. To put it midly e does not take his death lightly.
* ExcessiveMourning: For Natalya Ivanovna who is so aggrieved by the death of her husband that attack people around, both tamiliar and strange.
* FalseRapeAccusation: And how! Natalya Ivanovna stands at the tram stop with one man and no-one else. After some time she assaults him, he is first astonished then strikes back and hits her to the ground. Then she starts to cry that he tries to rape her. However several people suddenly arrive and tell that they saw that she herself attacked him. Then they all go away including the man who was waiting for the tram with Natalya Ivanovna in the beginning.
* HalfwayPlotSwitch: The first and second part of the film are not connected.

* KickTheDog: The mood of the film is set when a group of gravediggers make a thing that would npw e condemned by the whole internets. They harass a cat and attach a tin to her tail. In the end cats dashes away and one of the men who tries to hold her by the tail catches the tin instand and remains with the tin anfastened from the cat. That implies that the people are both cruel and maladroit.

The Asthenic Syndrome is a 1989 Soviet film (made in the Russian language in Odessa, Ukrainian SSR) by Kira Muratova. It was shot after the Perestroika stepped in and the director was allowed to freely make her cinema once more as the previous ban had been lifted.

The Asthenic Syndrome is a 1990 Soviet film (made in the Russian language in Odessa, Ukrainian SSR) by Kira Muratova. It was shot after the Perestroika stepped in and the director was allowed to freely make her cinema once more as the previous ban had been lifted.