About Love 2017
“About Love” or “O Lyubvi” is a film that consists of a series of short stories focusing on the complexities of love. It was released in 2017 and has drama as its genre. The film attempts to untangle the moral conflicts that arise during love, betrayal, and self-identity. The movie has outstanding ratings according to imdb, which is 5.9 out of 10.
The story revolves around a woman named Nina, referred to Ana by her friends, played by beautiful Anna Chipovskaya. She is married to a Sinology professor referred to simply as Alexander; played by a talented Aleksey Chadov. Alexander teaches at the university. They share a house, but it has a giant mortgage causing financial pressure on both Alexander and Nina. This results in emotional distancing in the marriage. In comes a new character, the head and boss of the bank that handles their mortgage: Sergey, played by Dmitriy Pevtsov. Serge was the reason those mortgages were signed, and now he’s the reason why the couple is getting divorced.
Nina is married to a wonderful man, but they both perceive love and happiness differently. This causes Nina to get involved in an immoral relationship with Sergey. She starts to question how she perceives love and happiness. Each woman at some point struggles with love, no matter how passive-Aggressively one may try to deny it, as portrayed beautifully by Anna Chipovskaya.
The screenplay was written and directed by Vladimir Bortko, who made sure to remain neutral when picking sides for the movie. Along with Aleksandr Lykov and Mariya Mironova, who played Gennadiy and Tamara respectively, Bortko was also a writer and director of the film.
Anna Chipovskaya did an amazing job as Nina displaying her internal struggles and her pursuit for love while challenging moral dilemmas alongside Bortko’s writing. One of the main themes portrayed through out the film along with the internal struggles Nina faces, is the justification for affairs and emotional ties. It encourages the audience to deep dive into love and question what it is and the sacrifices made that all come along with the pursuit for it.