How to Save a Dead Friend – Films

Marusya Syroechkovskaya
Sweden, Norway, France, Germany | 2022 | 103 min
World premiere
Language : Russian
Subtitles : French, English

Marusya is 16 and, like many Russian teenagers, is determined to end her life. Then she meets her soulmate in another millennial, Kimi. They spend a decade filming the euphoria and anxiety, the happiness and misery of their youth, muzzled by a violent and autocratic regime in the midst of a “depressed Russia”. This film is a cry from the heart, a tribute to an entire silenced generation.

Marusya is 16 and, like a worrying number of young people her age, is determined to end her life. In this “depressed Russia”, governed by an oligarchy keen to bring its nationalist dream to fruition, millennial suicides are omnipresent. Then, she meets her soulmate, a young man named Kimi. They become inseparable, filming the euphoria and anxiety, the happiness and misery of their youth, burning the candle at both ends, fuelled by drugs and cold wave in this great “bad trip” of the 2000s. But the couple slowly drifts apart; Kimi is seduced by hard drugs, while Marusya turns towards her studies and the reality of a politically muzzled country. Unconditional love will end up reuniting the two shooting stars, thus filming the last dramatic act of their lives, and keeping a trace of Kimi in these images. Just like in the song: “love will tear us apart, again.” Marusya Syroechkovskaya has signed a debut generational film of incredible strength. One last love letter for Kimi, devoured by life; a rebellious cry from the heart, an homage to an entire silenced generation.
Aurélien Marsais

How to Save a Dead Friend, 2022
Insomnia, 2018
Exploration of Confinment, 2013
The Pure One, 2012