TMDB 7.2 2006 Russia 95 min

Playing the Victim

Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov

To play death is to understand it.

A young man earns money by playing murder victims in police reconstructions, while struggling with his own moral emptiness and family dysfunction.

Starring
Yuriy ChursinVitaliy KhaevAleksandr Ilyin JrMarat Basharov
with Olga Demidova, Anna Mikhalkova, Fyodor Dobronravov, Marina Golub
Screenplay — Vladimir Presnyakov
Screenplay — Oleg Presnyakov
Cinematography — Sergey Mokritsky
Music — Alexandr Manotskov
Where to watch
Refines your DNA

Visuals

Deep Dive

The interpretation layer: what to read, listen to and play around this film.

01
Companion

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky's guilt, replayed as a job. Valya reenacts other people's murders for a living.

Find the book →
02 Context Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving On numbness as a survival strategy. Useful if the hero's flatness reads as comedy to you. →

Close DNA

Not "people also watched". These share the film's actual signals.

Yannick
2023
Shared DNA
Black ComedyDeadpanAbsurdist
Deerskin
2019
Shared DNA
Black ComedyDeadpanAbsurdist
The Elephant Man
1980
Shared DNA
Visually StunningPlot TwistMasterpiece