INSIGHT

Springtime in rural Russia: Zuyev plays some ping-pong then hops on the tram, but takes a horrific spill upon exiting. Blinded by the accident, he is forced to leave his old life behind. Eating, showering and taking care of things in his apartment – he has to relearn everything. At the local hospital, the nurse looks after him and gives him a renewed will to live. Her name is highly symbolic: Nadezhda means hope. The nurse grows fond of the sad young man and after his release from the clinic she suddenly shows up at his place. For Zuyev, it’s simple math: she likes him, he needs a wife and he is in a position to provide for her. So, the two marry. Alas, hope can be deceiving. Redheaded, harsh Nadezhda has secrets and blind Zuyev starts to fall into despair. Individuals like him have little chance of a new beginning in a society that doesn’t tolerate weakness. In wonderfully contrasting colours, INSIGHT breaks with our conventional ways of seeing and oscillates between intimacy and distance, sadness and joy, empathy and rejection. Viewers must decide for themselves what they would rather choose to believe and what they choose to see in the film’s images. But the interplay of light and shadow makes it hard to recognise the truth...