The most controversial film of this year’s Black Nights Film Festival was undoubtedly Boris Guts’s fourth feature, Deaf Lovers. Long before the film was screened, it was approached with hostility. I will resume that discussion later in this piece. Guts’ fourth film is an Estonian-Serbian co-production made with a limited budget. The story is set in Istanbul, where two young people seem to hit it off at first sight. However, as the title suggests, they are deaf and communicate solely by sign language. They meet in a café where the guy (Daniil Gazizullin) notices the girl (Anastasia Shemyakina) using sign language in front of her laptop.
They go outside, start drinking and kissing, and later end up in bed together. Is this the meet-cute in a rom-com? Not really, since it soon becomes clear that he is Russian who went to Istanbul to escape mobilisation, and she is Ukrainian, and she literally escaped death. Will this be the case of love conquering all, or is love between these two people doomed from the start? Obviously, the war looms large over their heads, and we see both of them talking to their respective relatives about the atrocities that take place in the war zone. The guy’s mother tells him that his brother was castrated and mutilated. The symbolism is evident, or is there another, more apt word?
Who’s up for a metaphor?
As the marvellous group Sparks reminded us in their song Metaphor, the titular object can be “a glorious thing, the first day of summer, or a breath of fresh air.” However, it can also be misused. The song warns us not to mix them. It might be unfair to say that Boris Guts does that, but the entire film is conspicuously composed of them. Shemyakina, who also appeared in the director’s film Minsk (2022), also carries a heavy load of the metaphorical burden. Her hair is blue, and her clothes are yellow, an obvious nod to Sweden Ukraine. Also, her ubiquitous naked body is used not merely as dickbait but for symbolic reasons as well.
The use of female nudity as a vision of vulnerability is a classic trope throughout the history of cinema, employed by Miklós Jancsó and others. That goes for depictions of violence against women, as well. There was a time when that wasn’t inherently regarded as a problem, but in the current cultural climate, for lack of a better term, this can cause outrage. In a way, it has, which can be witnessed on Letterboxd, but that was nothing compared to the veritable tsunami that hit the festival for including the film in the main competition as well as the Standing with Ukraine strand.
Deaf Lovers fall on Deaf Ears
The fact that the director is Russian has caused a storm. It was enough to follow Black Nights’ social media to notice that whatever they posted was greeted with comments that the festival should be ashamed of screening a “Russian film”, which was “obvious Russian propaganda”. The fact that the film was funded in Estonia and Serbia and that the director left Russia years ago didn’t affect those reactions. Also, nobody who rallied against the film had actually watched it. The reactions were not limited to social media; the festival and its head, Tiina Lokk, also received threatening emails.
Eventually, it was clear that something had to be done. At a time when most festivals cave into pressure, PÖFF chose another path. The film was kept in the main competition, but the added “Standing With Ukraine” was removed, mostly to get some peace of mind. A press conference was held with Tiina Lokk, Boris Guts, Estonian director Ilmar Raag, and Ukrainian documentary director Anton Zharov. It was a sober affair where everyone clearly stated their points, and the festival explained why they kept the film in the competition.
The same evening, the film premiered with massive security precautions, including guards and several policemen. The screening and the subsequent Q&A went as smoothly as one can hope for during the circumstances. To the festival’s credit, they stood their ground, and Tiina Lokk and the rest of the festival direction deserve nothing but the highest praise for how they handled a difficult situation. The irony is that deafness is a theme in the film pertaining to the fact that people won’t listen to each other—the exact same behaviour that the protesting mob demonstrated.
The film’s cinematic qualities, which can be debated, will, for some time, be overshadowed by the controversy. For those willing to look with open eyes and ears, it’s crystal clear that the film is neither Russian propaganda nor “whitewashing” of the horrible war that Russia has been subjecting Ukraine to for many years. If a festival near you is brave enough to screen it, seize the opportunity to make up your own mind.
Deaf Lovers was screened in the main competition at the Black Nights Film Festival. It did not receive any awards.
