In this post, you will read an analysis of a key sequence from Nikolai Larin’s film The Merchant Bashkirov’s Daughter (Doch´ kuptsa Bashkirova, 1913). The aim of this post is to examine how the filmmakers create meaning by using the cinematic resources available to them at the time. Relevant context will also be touched on. The word limit is 750-1000 words. The post’s author is Edie Selsdon Games (BA French and Russian).
Nikolai Larin, Merchant Bashkirov’s Daughter (1913)
Prior to this sequence, Larin has introduced the eponymous Master Bashkirov’s daughter, Nadia, as a ‘little white dove’; innocent and dreaming of freedom. Nadia loves Egorushka yet, within this sequence, Larin explores Nadia’s entrapment in her father’s conservative household and her lack of opportunity or choice, regarding her relationship and future, in a patriarchal world.
This sequence opens with Merchant Bashkirov entering his house; his long beard and black caftan representative of his old age and his masculine dominance. He is closely followed by another man, dressed almost identically, thus aligning these two characters in age, superiority and their shared financial interest. Master Bashkirov’s wife stands, bowing constantly in the background of this stationary shot and is therefore emblematic of female oppression and subservient expectations in early 20th Century Russia. Domestic and silent, Bashkirov’s wife stands beside a portrait of another man, also adorned in black and a grey beard. Perhaps this portrait is of Bashkirov himself, and thus his dominance is reiterated and the physical placement of the portrait above her signifies her inferiority and dutiful role, both in this scene and in her life. Gender roles, even amongst the Merchant Class, in 1913, were strictly patriarchal and Larin may have wanted the viewer to first think of Bashkirov’s wife as the serf, so uncomfortable and meek is her presence on screen.
Within this sequence, Larin also explores Nadia’s value to her father; the two men treat her as nothing more than an inanimate bargaining chip. During the sequence in which Bashkirov and his friend discuss Nadia’s engagement, Bashkirov points nonchalantly towards the direction of Nadia’s bedroom, supposedly describing his daughter’s whereabouts. It seems that Bashkirov’s colleague has not even met his future fiancé; a fate not unusual for early 20th Century couples yet Nadia’s absence heightens her lack of choice, regarding her own future.
Nadia’s role in this sequence becomes one of deep sympathy and she seems to be a prisoner in her own home; hiding within the confines of her bedroom. When the camera pans through the false wall, following the mother into Nadia’s bedroom, Larin emphasizes the proximity of Nadia to her father and her future fiancé, and how little chance of escape she has, whilst living under her father’s patriarchal rule. Her mother and her stand in an embrace, on the left-hand side of the shot, almost as if they are listening to Bashkirov’s conversation. Here, Larin uses mise-en-scène in a very theatrical manner to create a sense of refuge about Nadia’s room; she may be merely one metre from her father yet the room is lit brightly and is full of white props; quite the contrary from the dark kitchen in which Bashkirov is deciding her future. Furthermore, Nadia and her mother are on the left of the screen, with the fateful bed on the right, which centres the window, thus ironically accentuating the sense of entrapment. The window, usually associated with liminal spaces and escape, only serves to make Nadia seem all the more oppressed and underlines her lack of liberty.
As if to mock Nadia’s imprisonment, Larin then shoots Bashkirov and his colleague freely leaving the house. This wide angle is emblematic of their freedom to amble as they like, where they like, and, naturally, Bashkirov’s wife is left to clean the table, just as Nadia will be expected to do, once she has married Bashkirov’s colleague. Nadia is then seen leaning against the window, once more reiterating her dream of escaping, yet the near impossibility of her marrying Egorushka, given the religious and patriarchal laws of the time. Tsar Nicholas II, the ‘Little Father’, was greatly influenced by his tutor, Pobedonostev, a reactionary conservative and religious governor. Bashkirov’s utter dismissal of his daughter’s desires, in favour of a monetary transaction, are deeply reminiscent of the teachings of Pobedonostev, who believed that any democratic or liberal progress was an enemy of Russian national unity1. Larin then uses an intertitle here which, although romantic in the sense of Nadia’s trust in Egorushka, also employs the imperative case, to suggest that, even with Egorushka, Nadia is only following her duty. Nadia must inform the man she loves, as she herself, as a woman, is incapable of having any impact on her father’s decision. Nadia leans out the window, emphasizing her desire to escape, and then is seen leaving the house, the same way Bashkirov exited, yet Larin uses an eye-level shot, to contrast the men’s freedom with her constant entrapment. Despite being outdoors, Nadia is still imprisoned, both in the shot and in her arranged marriage.
The final shot of this sequence foreshadows the film’s tragic ending and Nadia and Eguroshka’s doomed relationship. The two kiss, yet the viewer can only see their silhouettes so this becomes a rather dream-like sequence. Indeed, their dreams will be dismissed, and, ironically, Egorushka’s body will end up in the river above which they dream about their future together. Larin places the characters as lights as the end of a dark tunnel, and yet they too are dark. There is a total loss of hope; Larin lights the church at the back of the shot, highlighting the victory of the Orthodox Bashkirov and Nadia’s futile attempt to rebel against patriarchal and religious diktats of early 20th Century Russia.