Deconstructing Gendered Norms and Reclaiming Gendered Spaces in Angelina Nikonova’s Twilight Portrait (Portret v sumerkakh, 2011)

Abstract

This article focuses on Angelina Nikonova’s debut film Twilight Portrait (Portret v sumerkakh, 2011) and analyses the trajectory of the ‘difficult’ female protagonist, Marina (Ol´ga Dykhovichnaia), in relation to the spaces she inhabits and reclaims within the film. The article argues that, despite the incredulity and hostility that she inspires both on-screen and off-screen, Marina symbolises a complex, wider struggle for women’s sovereignty within the deeply patriarchal context of contemporary Russian society. In so doing, it shows that the film’s sustained, albeit ambiguous, probing of gendered hierarchies and institutions renders the film an important contribution to Russian cinema and, also, to the wider feminist filmmaking and feminist cultural discourse.