The Asthenic Syndrome (1989)
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The Asthenic Syndrome Movie Review
The Asthenic Syndrome is a 1989 Soviet Ukrainian drama film directed by Kira Muratova. It’s a film that I appreciated for its uniqueness, but did not enjoy watching at all.
Citizens of Soviet Russia trudge through a society afflicted by asthenia, a condition manifested through blind and senseless acts of aggression with no underlying purpose. First and foremost, this condition clearly stood as a metaphor for the feelings of Soviet citizens during the disintegration of their country. And I did appreciate that layer to the story as well as a very strong atmosphere of alienation and detachment.
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This is often cited as the finest film that Kira Muratova directed. This is my introduction to her work and I personally appreciate her vision, but I find the execution of her ideas and plot problematic to say the least. The movie is intriguing at first, but it quickly becomes a chore to sit through due to sluggish pacing, an overlong runtime and a lack of plot in the second half.
The Asthenic Syndrome is the most memorable in its transition between the first and the second story. Basically, we realize in a crazy twist that the first story has been a film within a film that the characters are watching in the theater. And then we go from black-and-white to color and from a movie within a movie to, well, a real movie.
I appreciated this very unique twist, but it did make the first half feel entirely pointless. It felt more as a gimmick than a necessary plot device. The cinematography and score are very strong, though. The film is artistically inclined and quite polished, but the characterization is beyond slight and I did not care for any of these people. The overall storyline is interesting, but hardly properly explored beyond its basic concept.
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The Asthenic Syndrome is a very unique, but flawed Soviet drama directed by Kira Muratova. While I appreciated its very original twist in the middle, it effectively made the first half feel pointless. The movie is artistically inclined and technically polished. It’s also thematically rich. But the plot felt underdeveloped, the characters slight and the pacing sluggish, resulting in a slog to sit through. I admired its authenticity, but I wasn’t engaged in its story at all.
My Rating – 3
This is the third film in my Eastern European series where I will cover one film per decade that is from a country in this region. Next up are the 90s where I chose Me Ivan, You Abraham from 🇧🇾. Keep an eye on that one as well.
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