Zina (also known as Zina and the Ogre) is a 1985 British film directed by Ken McMullen and starring Domiziana Giordano, Ian McKellen, and Philip Madoc. It was written by Terry James and McMullen and tells the story of a twentieth-century Antigone figure, Zinaida Volkova, the daughter of Leon Trotsky.
Production Details
The film was produced by Ken McMullen and distributed by Virgin Films. Cinematography was handled by Bryan Loftus, with editing by Robert Hargreaves. The music was composed by David Cunningham (industrial music), Barrie Guard (symphonic music), and Simon Heyworth (additional music). The film was released in July 1985, has a running time of 90 minutes, and is in English. It is a United Kingdom production.
Plot
Set in 1930s Berlin, the film follows Zina, who is being treated by the Adlerian psychotherapist Professor Arthur Kronfeld. During her psychoanalysis, which includes hypnosis, she recalls incidents from both her own life and that of her father, a leader of the Russian Revolution who later held state power and was subsequently exiled. Against the backdrop of the deteriorating political situation in Europe—marked by the rise of fascism and the approaching Second World War—Zina's identification with the Greek tragic figure Antigone becomes increasingly pronounced. What initially appear to be hallucinations begin to take objective form in the streets, and the dynamics of Greek tragedy come to the forefront of the narrative.
Cast
- Domiziana Giordano as Zina Bronstein
- Ian McKellen as Professor Kronfeld
- Philip Madoc as Trotsky
- Rom Anderson as Maria
- Micha Bergese as Molanov
- Dominique Pinon as Pierre
- Gabrielle Dellal as stenographer
- William Hootkins as Walter Adams
- Leonie Mellinger as German stenographer
- Paul Geoffrey as Lyova
- Tusse Silberg as Jeanne
- Maureen O'Brien as Natalya
- George Yiasoumi as André Breton
- George Levantis as Kharalambus
- Jeffrey Teare as Stalin's agent in art gallery
- Eleanor Greet as Stalin's agent in art gallery
Reception
Time Out described the film as revisiting "the twin 20th century traumas of Revolution and Reich," noting McMullen's "elegantly prowling camera, careful compositions, and astute use of locations ranging from Berlin and Blackpool to Lanzarote." The publication praised Giordano's performance as "simply magnificent as the volatile Zina."
Writing in Artforum, Barbara Kruger characterized the film as engaging a threefold agenda: portraying Bronstein as a tormented analysand, grounding the narrative in historical research (including Trotsky's writings, Bronstein's letters, and Isaac Deutscher's three-part biography of Trotsky), and paralleling the narrative with the pattern of classic tragedy.
Accolades
The film won the Special Prize of the Jury at the 1986 San Sebastian International Film Festival. It also won four prizes at the Fantasporto film festival and received the 1986 KNF award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
