Tales from Moominvalley / Дитя-невидимка

by Tove Jansson
translated by Thomas Warburton and S. B. Plakhtinsky

I first read this charming collection of short stories in Russian, as «Дитя-невидимка» (The Invisible Child), which is the exact translation of the original Swedish title. The English title, Tales from Moominvalley, is way too generic (yes, I also said that about Finn Family Moomintroll). I know, Warburton’s translation is a classic and I grew to like it too, but every time I have a doubt about something encountered in the English version I come back to the Russian “original”.

The Whomper’s baby brother opened his mouth, took a large breath, and started to cry. A Tale of Horror	Братик открыл рот, приготовился и заревел. «Ужасная история»
The Fillyjonk thrust out her nose from the quilt, stared severely into the dark, and said: “I’ll show you.” Whatever that meant. The Fillyjonk Who Believed in Disasters	Филифьонка высунула из-под одеяла мордочку, строго глянула в темноту и сказала: «Вы меня ещё не знаете». Правда, неясно было, что она имеет в виду. «Филифьонка в ожидании катастрофы»
What was it the Mymble’s daughter had said about Hattifatteners? Last spring, at dinner one day. That they led a wicked life. And Moominmamma had said: “That’s just talk”; but My became enormously interested and wanted to know what it meant. As far as Moominpappa could remember, no one had been really able to describe what people did when they led a wicked life. Probably they behaved wildly and freely in a general way. The Secret of the Hattifatteners	Что там Мюмла говорила о хатифнаттах? Как-то весною, за обедом. Она сказала, что они ведут разгульную жизнь. И Муми-мама сказала: «Ой, что ты такое говоришь?» — а Мю ужасно заинтересовалась и сразу захотела узнать, что это такое. Насколько папа помнил, никто так толком и не сумел объяснить, что же нужно делать, чтобы вести эту самую разгульную жизнь. «Тайна хатифнаттов»
Even if disaster was coming, Moominpappa decided not to take one of his own firs, because he was particular about them. Instead he and Moomintroll climbed over Gaffsie’s fence and chose a big fir she couldn’t very well have any use for. The Fir Tree	Несмотря на грозящую им опасность, свои ёлки папа решил не трогать, потому что он их берёг. Поэтому они перелезли через Гафсин забор и выбрали себе большую ель, которая Гафсе всё равно бы не пригодилась. «Ёлка»

Höstsonaten

a film by Ingmar Bergman

Bergman’s last cinematic work, starring Ingrid Bergman (no relation) in her final cinema performance, alongside Liv Ullmann. Intense, at times uncomfortable, at times depressing, but not without comic elements courtesy of Ingrid’s vain character, Charlotte.

Nocturnos

by Laura Pérez

Another deliciously dark work from the Valencian comic artist. Like Ocultos, it consists of several “stories”, or, rather, fragments of stories. This time, however, they are not named. So they make you to wonder how to name them as well as how they could end (or start, for that matter). The one where a man has “the same dream” reminded me the part of Finn Family Moomintroll where the exotic plants start growing from the Hobgoblin’s Hat.

HLM Pussy

a film by Nora el Hourch

Don’t get deterred by its bland, politically correct English title Sisterhood: this is a high-octane thriller drama starring Leah Aubert as Amina, Médina Diarra as Djeneba and Salma Takaline as Zineb. The HLM of the original title stands for habitation à loyer modéré, a form of social housing in France. Featuring a fragment of the performance Un violador en tu camino by LASTESIS.

La Grande Vadrouille

a film by Gérard Oury

As Большая прогулка, this WWII comedy starring Bourvil and Louis de Funès was both widely screened and wildly popular in the Soviet Union. Yet somehow I’ve never watched it before. And now I did, thanks to Filmoteca de Cantabria, with collaboration of the Alliance Française de Santander and Institut Français de Bilbao.

Drylongso

a film by Cauleen Smith

Another happy discovery: this lost and found (and restored) gem of a movie starring Toby Smith, April Barnett and Will Power. As far as I know, Drylongso is (so far) the only feature film by Cauleen Smith.

Scener ur ett äktenskap

a film by Ingmar Bergman

I had a dilemma: either to rush after work to watch almost three hours of Scenes from a Marriage, with a distinct possibility to fall asleep, or to give it a pass and just have a proper nap. As you may have guessed, my craving for cinema won.

This 1974 film is a theatrical release of a 1973 miniseries of the same name. If the first chapter/episode has a rather extended cast, by Bergman standards anyway, in the last four chapters “only” the protagonists, portrayed by Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, remain. It’s long but never boring, and even has a kind of wabey-sabey happy ending: Marianne and Johan evolve from meh spouses to pretty good lovers.