Glances at undervalued classics: Maria's Lover

The Russian film director Andrei Konchalovsky was born in the late summer of 1937 in Moscow. He became interested in both theater and film early in his life and began an extremely noteworthy career in both just after his twentieth birthday.

Konchalovsky is a massively important Russian director who was, among other things, a friend and collaborator with the legendary Andrei Tarkovsky. His touching MARIA’S LOVERS is notable not only in that it marks his first English language film, but also in that it marks one of the first English language productions ever to be shot by a Russian director.

The Gerard Brach scripted MARIA’S LOVERS focuses on a small American town just after World War Two that has been spiritually and emotionally ripped apart. The opening newsreel footage of WW2 vets suffering from Post Traumatic Stress syndrome and general combat fatigue is haunting stuff, and Konchalovsky’s handling of the material immediately alerts the audience that MARIA’S LOVERS is going to be an extremely serious minded piece of work. The film viewed today with America’s current situation in Iraq also makes it incredibly resonate as well.

The story centers on Ivan, a damaged soldier returning home from the war to his drunken father and his lost love Maria. Ivan, played with a beautifully scarred intensity by John Savage, is struggling with a loss of not just a couple of years of his life but also his soul. The memory of Maria is the one thing that got him through the horrors he witnessed, but he returns to find that she has taken up with another soldier named Al, played well by Vincent Spano.

Everyone in the film seems to be in love with Maria. She obsesses Ivan’s father, characterized wonderfully by the iconic Robert Mitchum, as she reminds him of his late wife. She also intrigues a traveling guitar playing stranger, played by a solid Keith Carradine, who becomes quickly entranced by her but Maria really only loves Ivan. Ivan and Maria are married soon after he returns but unfortunately he becomes impotent around her, which leads to many of the film’s most poignant and heartbreaking scenes.

The film works best in its scenes between Kinski and Savage, as their relationship slips further and further down a hole of doubt, frustration and sexual tension that can’t be satisfied. Savage is remarkable in the film and the internal strife he is experiencing is palatable. The film also soars in the moments Kinski shares with Mitchum. She would speak of his penetrating eyes after making the film and he does stare at her with a kind of desire and longing that is extremely rare for modern English language cinema.

The film falters a bit in that it is perhaps overly ambitious at times. It is questionable whether or not the traveling Carradine was really necessary as it does take away from the main storyline, but his inclusion does give Kinski’s Maria an outlet for the blossoming sexuality that is overtaking her.

It is this repressed sexuality that gives the film its most remarkable scene, involving a tour de force moment with Kinski alone in her bedroom. It is one of the most heartbreakingly erotic and beautifully performed scenes of Kinski’s career and Konchalovsky’s direction of it is splendidly tasteful without feeling compromised. It is one of Kinski’s great moments where she is confronted just by the camera and her own internal solitude, a solitude that she was able to portray as well as an actor that has ever been filmed.

The film also does a remarkable job at presenting America at one of its most pivotal moments. The fact that it took a Russian director, a French Screenwriter, a Spanish photographer and a German actress to do this makes it all the more incredible. MARIA’S LOVERS is one of the eighties great lost films, and the muted reception that greeted it upon its release remains a mystery.

MARIA’S LOVERS is marked by the remarkably sensitive direction of Konchalovsky, the searing and poetic performance of Nastassja Kinski as the title character, and the picture perfect photography by Cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia. It is a tender and moving portrait of personal alienation and stands as one of the five best films that Nastassja Kinski ever had the chance to appear in.

The film was shot on a relatively low budget in less than two months on location in Pennsylvania and was produced by the Cannon group. Cannon eventually became known as more of an outlet for action films, but for a while with films like this one and LADY CHATTERLY’S LOVER (1982) they were really trying to be a more serious player in the world cinema market.

The film would open across Europe in late 1984 to some acclaim but it was greeted by just mixed reviews and poor box office when it opened in the States in January of 85. Kinski’s wonderfully heartfelt performance as Maria was honored with the coveted Silver Ribbon award from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists and Konchalovsky was nominated for best foreign film director at the 1985 Cesar awards. The Silver Ribbon was a big deal for Kinski as it would mark one of the only times that the critical establishment finally recognized her as the wonderfully effective actress she always was.

MARIA’S LOVERS is a really special film and it is absolutely essential for fans of Nastassja Kinski and modern American cinema in general. It is currently available on Region 1 DVD in a fairly good wide-screen presentation that unfortunately only includes the film’s trailer as an extra.

Konchalovsky would thankfully be given more attention for his directing skills with his next movie, the very exciting and well-made RUNAWAY TRAIN (1985). He has since worked in both American and Russian films and is currently working on a production called THE FORBIDDEN CITY with Alec Baldwin.

MARIA’S LOVERS would mark the end to Kinski’s golden period as a star in America. After shooting HAREM, she would film REVOLUTION, which would prove disastrous for all involved, and she would work almost exclusively in European films for the next decade. MARIA’S LOVERS stands as a reminder to why she was one of the biggest and most iconic stars of the eighties, and an actress who deserved much more credit than she got.

Jeremy Richey is a student at W.K.U. working on finishing an English Degree. He has a lifelong interest in film and music and writes daily on his favorites at http://mooninthegutter.blogspot.com

He also has a side project dedicated to the neglected career of Nastassja Kinski at http://nostalgiakinky.blogspot.com Visit him at http://www.myspace.com/jeremy_richey