Sergei Yutkevich: photo, family and biography

A well-known Soviet actor, director, screenwriter, theatrical figure and cinema theoretician Sergei Yutkevich came to the world of art as a very young child, and remained there until the very last days of his long and fruitful life. The creative path of this man was not simple and smooth, but he did not turn off the chosen road once.

At the dawn of creative activity

Yutkevich Sergey Iosifovich was born In Petersburg In 1904 (the twenty-eighth of December). And already in the seventeenth year his creative life began. Russia was tormented by the Civil War, but, obsessed with the dream of an acting career, the teenager paid little attention to what was happening in the country and stubbornly pursued his goal.

A young actor, artist, assistant director by the name of Sergei Yutkevich Sevastopol and Kiev rightfully can call their "chick" - it's the theaters of these cities that "feathered" a potential star, it was here that the future People's Artist of the Soviet Union received his first practical experience and honed his skills .

But the practice of practice, but without education will not go far, and the young nugget understood this perfectly. In 1921, 17-year-old Sergei Yutkevich entered the Theater and Art Faculty of VKhUTEMAS, which ends in 1923. The same period is dated to his training at the State Higher Directing Workshops, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Revolutionary art

The period, in which Sergey Yutkevich's first steps in art fell, was characterized by rapid changes in the life of the country. Russia said goodbye to everything old and inspired to build a new one. Naturally, the revolutionary moods also affected the acting environment.

In 1922, Yutkevich S. and G. Kozintsev, with the assistance of L. Trauberg and G. Kryzhitsky, issued a manifesto under the high-sounding title "Eccentricity", which became the theoretical foundation of the FEKS (Factories of the eccentric actor). The aim of the authors of the manifesto was the creation of a completely new, revolutionary art, which they were going to present to the world, combining different genres: variety, circus, agitation work and theater. It was an innovation that the young Soviet state needed.

Two years after the loud statement, Sergei Yutkevich moved from words to action and released the film "Give radio!", Which told about the life of metropolitan street children. In this eccentric comedy, the director tried to translate the idea of mixing genres. The electorate took the picture with enthusiasm.

And two years later Yutkevich creates the Experimental Film Collective and becomes its leader. The search for new forms in art continues.

"Lenfilm"

In 1928, Yutkevich-director begins to "grow" authority, and he is appointed head of the First Film Workshop at Lenfilm.

Having received such an important post, Sergei Iosifovich is trying to realize his creative ideas as much as possible, but it was not there. The Soviet state needed films of a certain theme, and the filmmakers did not dare to turn from the direct socialist path and realize some of their plans.

At first, Yutkevich was still trying to somehow combine his experiments with the social order ("Black Sail", "Lace"), but for a long time it was not enough. Films "Counter," "Golden Mountains," etc., filmed under the direction of the young director a little later than the above, are already imbued with ideology through.

To please the authorities

From time to time, Sergei Yutkevich makes attempts to escape from the cell. One of them is the documentary Ankara is the Heart of Turkey, where authentic factual material is effectively combined with a peculiar story. This experiment Yutkevich was a success.

But by the mid-thirties, I had to tie up my liberties-it was very troubling time. Beginning in about the thirty-fourth year, Sergei Iosifovich removes only what can and should be removed. He understands that there is a time in the yard, completely unsuitable for creative experiments.

The paintings "The Miners", "The Man with the Gun", "Yakov Sverdlov", etc., created in the second half of the thirties, were praised by critics and even awarded state prizes. But they practically did not represent their artistic value. The main thing in them was Soviet ideology.

By the way, in the tape "Man with a Gun" Yutkevich first touched on the theme of Lenin, which later became one of the most important in his future work.

For all hands the master

Yutkevich Sergey was noted in the art world not only as a director. He also proved himself a successful administrator, heading the studio "Soyuzdetfilm", an authoritative teacher, an enthusiastic art critic, a talented theoretician, etc., often speaking in all these hypostases simultaneously. He even managed to work as a director in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the People's Committee of the Interior from 1939 to 1946.

In general, the pre-war and war years were marked for Yutkevich by a burst of creative activity. He even managed to film several "out-of-bounds" films, among which, for example, the comedy "New Adventures of Svejk." During this period, the maestro was simply in great demand. Students who were lucky enough to learn in the director's studio of Sergei Iosifovich in VGIK, recalled that their teacher was forever missing somewhere: somewhere on the set in France, then at some festival or at Mosfilm. And when he appeared: elegant, fragrant - the disciples could not take their eyes off him. Sergei Yutkevich, whose photo is presented in this article, always had a bright, memorable appearance. Contemporaries characterized him as a man of elegant, fun and interesting.

Black line

But after the war for Yutkevich began a black streak. The second half of the fortieth - this is perhaps the most difficult period in the life of a filmmaker, and he began with one work on his favorite topic (about Ilyich).

It is about the adaptation of Pogodin's play "The Kremlin Chimes", which was to be released in the rental under the title "Light over Russia".

After the "tasting" of the picture, the party leadership felt that the image of Lenin was not disclosed in it sufficiently large, and the author was attacked by a whole flurry of criticism. Yutkevich was remembered by everyone, especially his pre-war experiments. The director was accused of cosmopolitanism, in fawning before America and its filmmakers, called him a esthete and formalist.

In forty-nine, Sergei Iosifovich was forced to leave VGIK and VNII art studies and for some time depart from the direction.

Return and triumph

In 1952, Yutkevich makes an attempt to return to the world of cinema, removing the film far from politics "Przhevalsky", which was a biography of the famous researcher. But the director is able to finally recover on "Olympus" only after Stalin's death. And from the mid-fifties his life is again full of creativity and popular recognition.

The film "The Great Warrior of Albania Scanderberg" receives a prize in Cannes. Do not forget the maestro and the theater. He returns to VGIK and relentlessly pleases the viewer with his new productions. Literally in the next ten years, "out of his pen," about thirty performances are published. The most striking of them are the critics of the productions "Bathhouse", "Bedbug", "Career Arturo Ui", etc.

Yutkevich actively travels abroad, he is warmly received in France, is included in the jury of the Cannes Festival and even gives the post of vice-president of national cinematics.

Together with the French, Sergei Iosifovich shoots the film "The plot for a short story" about Chekhov's personal life. The picture is very popular among European viewers, it was not popular in the Soviet Union.

Lenin

As already mentioned above, one of the main themes in the work of Sergei Yutkevich was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. It was difficult to assume that the director would again turn to this person after the film "The Light over Russia", which brought him so many troubles. Nevertheless, Yutkevich is filming the film Stories of Lenin. In it, he actually erects Ilyich on the pedestal of a saint, well, or at least the most honest, kind and decent person on Earth.

The next work dedicated to the leader of the proletariat was the painting "Lenin in Poland", a screen version of 1965. She brought a great success to Yutkevich and objectively is one of the best in his collection. Here the master finally manages to fully satisfy his long-drawn craze for experiments. The film won the Cannes Film Festival Prize, as well as the State Prize of the USSR.

And another picture was filmed by Yutkevich about Ilyich. It is called "Lenin in Paris", the release date is 1981. It can be called the last significant work of Sergei Iosifovich. The film also received the USSR State Prize, but critics call it, to put it mildly, unsuccessful and unreasonable in terms of artistic value.

On the home stretch

Sergei Yutkevich, who started his career as a teenager, did not leave it until the last days of his life. In the eighty-second year he still worked at the Moscow Musical Chamber Theater, where he staged A. Blok's plays The Stranger and The Puppet Show. In addition, the maestro continued to "sculpt" the cadres for the world of theater and cinema in VGIK, wrote books and even edited "Kinoslovar."

The family of Sergei Yutkevich

Sergei Iosifovich Yutkevich was married to his same age as the ballet dancer Elena Ilyushchenko. This marriage was his only. The couple were very fond of each other and were able to keep their feelings to a very old age.

If we talk about what Sergei Yutkevich was proud of in this life, Marianne's daughter must be remembered. After all, she followed in her father's footsteps and achieved considerable heights in her sphere. Marianna Yutkevich (Shaternikova) became a film critic, was engaged in teaching work, studied the history of motion pictures.

In the ninetieth year, Yutkevich's daughter left the USSR, having emigrated to the United States. At that time, her parents were no longer alive.

People's Artist of the USSR Yutkevich died on April 21, 1985. His ashes rest on the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Elena Mikhailovna survived her husband for two years, having died in 1987.