House of Fools

The Russian theatre and film director Andrei Konchalovsky is an elder brother of Nikita Mikhalkov, born August, 20, 1937. As a youngster he planned to pursue a career of a musician and learned to play piano but his love for cinema outweighed and he entered VGIK-the major state film school where he studied under Mikhail Romm. At VGIK he met Tarkovsky, they collaborated on Ivan’s childhood and Andrei Rublev. For his length feature debut The First Teacher (1961), he chose the book by Chingis Aitmatov about the post-1917 Revolution period in the southern Russia. His next film, a black and white Asya Klyachina’s Story although made in 1966 was not released until a decade later because it failed to comply with the strict requirements of the Russian censorship of the period. A Nest of Gentry (1969) – a study of the 19 c. aristocracy – was praised for its visual beauty but attacked by critics as mannered. Konchalovsky’s powerful Uncle Vanya (1970) from the play by Chekhov is regarded by many people as one of the best films in the Russian language ever but it was not until he made his next two films that he became a worldwide famous film maker. A larger than life love story Romance for Lovers (1974) won an honor at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and Sibiriade (1979) – a dramatic and realistic story of the lives of the people of Siberia – was internationally acclaimed and brought Konchalovsky to the attention of American and European producers. From then onwards his career has been international in scope. Pleasing critics and cinema-goers worldwide he made English language artful films Maria’s Lovers (1984), Runaway Train (1985), Duet for One (1986) (praised for Max von Sydow’s brilliant performance), and Homer and Eddie (1989) starring Whoopi Goldberg.

Much to his fans disappointment Konchalovsky moved to the mainstream territory with the action packed Tango and Cash (1989). Charasteristically he still insists that this work is no less laudable than any of his others. He also directed plays and operas in a number of European cities. In the early 1990s he returned to Russia and directed several theatre productions most notably The Seagull by Chekhov and Miss Julie by August Strindberg. Currently residing in Moscow Konchalovsky sometimes makes short excursions to Hollywood to make mainstream TV productions The Odyssey (1997) and The Lion in Winter (2003) in which Glenn Close gave an award-winning performance. His Russian-French co-production House of Fools (2002) – a story set in an asylum that stands on the border between Russia and Chechenya during the war in Chechenya – was warmly received in Europe and won an honor at the 2002 Venice Film Festival. However the film antagonized the critics in Russia who accused Konchalovsky of being a war-monger. In the very beginning of his career he used a double surname and was credited in his early films as Mikhalkov- Konchalovsky. Later he adopted his mother’s maiden name to distinguish himself from his younger brother, Nikita Mikhalkov, who was rapidly becoming a well known film maker. —IMDb