A new film has been released in the Russian franchise about serfs — it's watched in Belarus too
The comedy «Serf» appeared on screens in 2019 and for several years became the highest-grossing Russian film. Now, «Serf-3» has been brought to Belarusian cinemas.
Photo: screenshot from the trailer
At the end of 2019, Russian director Klim Shipenko released the comedy «Serf». For the main role, he invited Serbian actor Miloš Biković. Biković played Grisha, a rich kid and son of an oligarch, who clearly lacked parental upbringing. To at least somewhat teach his adult son a lesson, his father organizes a journey for him into the harsh realities of serfdom in Russia, where the young man finds love and a stimulus to change for the better. Biković's love interest, by the way, is played by Aleksandra Bortich — and this is one of the Belarusian actress's star roles.
«Serf» grossed about 62 million dollars at the box office and became one of the highest-grossing films in Russian history. However, could it have been otherwise? Here you have family values, and the desire to teach rich people a lesson and punish them, and the triumph of justice — everything that is so important to the Russian viewer. Not to mention that it's an easy-to-understand comedy with a well-developed romantic storyline, released for New Year's, when not everyone wants to watch something complicated.
Since then, the creators of «Serf» have released a sequel, «Serf-2», and also sold adaptation rights to foreigners. Their own versions of «Serf» have already been released in Mongolia, France, Turkey, and Kazakhstan.
And now — «Serf-3». Former rich kid Grisha manages a project for re-educating other rich kids, where they are placed into the realities of the past, just as Grisha himself once was. He works together with the eccentric psychologist Lev Arnoldovich (Ivan Okhlobystin); they have a luxurious office and cosmic ambitions.
Photo: screenshot from the trailer
The children of the prominent businessmen, the Vyazemskys, come to that office. Their parents desperately need re-education: they have become so consumed by egoism and destructive behavior that they are having a scandalous divorce and simultaneously destroying the family company. Their children use their saved 10 Bitcoins to arrange that re-education for their parents.
For this, the Vyazemskys are sent into the setting of Peter the Great's era — supposedly, the rich kids had connections to shipbuilding, so they are placed in the time of the emperor thanks to whom Russia acquired a fleet. Ironically, the Russian emperor is played by Serbian actor Biković. Former rich kid Grisha defeated his competitors in the battle for this honorable role.
Photo: screenshot from the trailer
The creators of «Serf-3» did not abandon the traditional methods of re-educating rich kids. Boris Vyazemsky (Pavel Priluchny) is sent into the same serfdom and undergoes work therapy, while his still-wife Elena (Kristina Asmus) is made a wealthy lady.
Boris gets a new wife — a curvy Russian peasant woman, while Elena gets a new husband — a prince, much older than her. The new spouses, apparently, are supposed to seem uglier to the Vyazemskys than their old 21st-century versions, and at the same time motivate them to reconsider their attitude towards their marriage. It's a pity that psychologist Okhlobystin is unaware of other methods of fighting for love.
Photo: screenshot from the trailer
Of course, «Serf-3» turned out to be thoroughly stereotypical, and the spoiled rich kids Vyazemskys are responsible for this in the film. Boris easily sells the family company, fires a long-time employee, and demands a massage right in the office, while Elena quarrels with her husband right in front of the children to the point of smashing the screen of an expensive TV. And how did such people manage to have intelligent and well-mannered children?
These are not the only plot holes. The Vyazemskys — let's remember, they are major businessmen! — turn out to be so foolish that Okhlobystin's reconstructors present them with a Turkish sultan who doesn't speak Turkish, and actors who repeatedly give themselves away with modern phrases like «a smile makes everything brighter».
And these same people are magically re-educated by Grisha's and Lev Arnoldovich's methods. That the experiment succeeded is not a spoiler, as it's clear from the very beginning what the ending will be.
Despite its predictability, watching «Serf-3» can be interesting. Okhlobystin, not surprisingly, copes with the task of portraying a psychologist who himself needs help, Biković and the child actors also perform at a good level. Priluchny and Asmus were only required to portray stereotypical rich kids and their magical re-education, which they fully manage.
Photo: screenshot from the trailer
And the script, although flawed, turned out dynamic. Here you have modern Russia, and Peter the Great's era, and Peter himself, and for dessert, expect a trip to Turkey. There are also numerous Easter eggs, for example, to «Dirty Dancing».
The third of the «Serfs» clearly promotes family values. The elder Vyazemskys, perhaps, are not ready to kill each other, but are not too opposed if others do. It's hard to believe that work therapy and death threats can bring love back to such a family, or that cruelty can re-educate a child in an adult's body. But every generation needs its own fairy tales.