Pavel and Lyalya (A Jerusalem Romance)

Pavel and Lyalya (A Jerusalem Romance)

1998 · 34 min · ★ 10.0 · Documentary

“Like the right and left hand Your soul is close to my soul We are sealed shut, blissfully and warmly, Like the right and left wing…” The life and art of Pavel Kogan and Lyudmila Stanukinas, two famous Leningrad documentary filmmakers, can best be expressed by the Tsvetaeva stanza cited above. They are the main characters of this film, which their student Viktor Kossakovsky shot during Pavel Kogan’s final months. For Lyudmila Stanukinas, Lyalya, as those close to her called her, her husband was her only reason for existence. She was with him until the end and held onto his extinguishing life as much as she could.

Directed by Viktor Kossakovsky · Written by Viktor Kossakovsky

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Rent or Buy

Cast

Make it a double feature

2h 18m together

Pavel and Lyalya (A Jerusalem Romance)

¡Vivan las Antipodas!

Both from Viktor Kossakovsky.

More from Viktor KossakovskySee all →

I Loved You

I Loved You · 2000

MovieDocumentary

Trilogy about love, experienced at different moments in life, by different people: an old couple, a young couple and two children at infant school.

Storyville

Storyville · 1997

SeriesDocumentary

Showcasing the best in international documentaries, Storyville has developed an enviable reputation since its inception more than a decade ago. Screening over 340 films, from some 70 different countries, the strand has garnered a staggering array of awards: five Oscars, 15 Griersons, three Peabodys and two International Emmys. In true, unique, Storyville style, the new series promises to deliver the strand's usual eclectic mix of compelling stories from across the globe.

Wednesday

Wednesday · 1997

MovieDocumentary

Victor Kossakovsky searched obsessively for inhabitants of St. Petersburg who were born on Wednesday 19 July 1961, his own birthday, in former Leningrad. Fifty-one women and fifty men fitted the profile. In the course of time a few of these 101 people had died, others had moved to another community or abroad. But in 1995 Kossakovsky managed to capture on film all seventy remaining residents, in the street, at work or simply at home. While doing so he spent time with doctors and patients, entertainers and businessmen, construction workers and homeless people. In his unorthodox style Kossakovsky has produced a beautiful profile of people in their thirties in St. Petersburg.

Gunda

MovieDocumentary

A glimpse into the raw and simple power of nature through encounters with farm animals: the eponymous Gunda, a mother pig; two cows, and a one-legged chicken.

¡Vivan las Antipodas!

¡Vivan las Antipodas! · 2011

¡Vivan las Antipodas!

MovieDocumentary

What would be the shortest route between Entre Rios in Argentina and the Chinese metropolis Shanghai? Simply a straight line through the center of the earth, since the two places are antipodes: they are located diametrically opposite to each other on the earth's surface. During his visits to four such antipodal pairs, the award-winning documentary filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky captured images that turn our view of the world upside down.

Trillion

Trillion · 2025

MovieDocumentary

A woman walks over jagged, weather-beaten rocks by the sea. She is barefoot, wearing a simple white dress. The wind blows unchecked, her face hidden beneath the brim of a floppy hat. She walks and walks, resolute. Sometimes she carries a large jute bag. What is happening here?

Hush!

MovieDocumentaryComedy

The director films the street where he lives in St. Petersburg, for a whole year, documenting the changes caused by the celebration of its 300th anniversary.

Aquarela

Aquarela · 2018

MovieDocumentary

From massive waves to melting ice, filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky travels around the world to capture stunning images of the beauty and raw power of water.

Architecton

Architecton · 2024

MovieDocumentary

An extraordinary journey through the material that makes up our habitat: concrete and its ancestor, stone. Victor Kossakovsky raises a fundamental question: how do we inhabit the world of tomorrow?

69 Minutes of 86 Days

69 Minutes of 86 Days · 2017

69 Minutes of 86 Days

MovieDocumentary

A 3-year-old girl and her family's long journey from a Greek refugee centre to Uppsala.

Short Plays

Short Plays · 2014

MovieDocumentaryDrama

Football seen through the eyes of some of the best directors of the world.

The Belovs

The Belovs · 1992

MovieDocumentary

Portrait of a troubled peasant family. The film tells the story of two times widow Anna Belova who lives together with her brother Mikhail. Blending the two personalities, Kosakovsky characterizes the true Russian soul: she is the rational worker, honest and strong - he is the drunken poet, the idealist, his philosophy fades into radical nonsense time after time.

Sacredly

Sacredly · 2005

MovieDocumentary

In Russian, "Svyato" means "happy". But it is also a nickname for Svyatoslav, the son of director Kossakovsky, who for two years covered mirrors from Svyato. For the first time in his life, Svyato is going to watch himself on a mirror.

Memento Mori

Memento Mori · 2025

MovieDocumentary

As rhythmic machines press zinc sheets into coffins, factory workers reflect on their own mortality. Does daily contact with death heighten their awareness of life’s impermanence?

Varicella

Varicella · 2015

MovieDocumentary

Seven-year-old Polina and her 13-year-old sister Nastia live and breathe ballet. Both of them are studying at the Boris Eifman Dance Academy in frigid Saint Petersburg. They’re currently awaiting their grades to find out if they’ve done well enough to be promoted to the next year, with Nastia lovingly guiding he little sister through the process. But in the meantime, Nastia also has to deal with the high demands that the academy places on its students. The gorgeously styled shots are sometimes calm, even clinical, and sometimes warm, lively and funny.

Lullaby: The Phenomenon of Sleeping Near A.T.M. Machines

Lullaby: The Phenomenon of Sleeping Near A.T.M. Machines · 2012

Lullaby: The Phenomenon of Sleeping Near A.T.M. Machines

MovieDocumentary

The filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky on homeless people sleeping near A.T.M.’s in a bank, a growing phenomenon in Europe.

More Like This

Couldn't load this row right now.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter