The last few years have been a rollercoaster for Ukrainian actress Dasha Tabornovich. They included a first lead role in a major film and participation in the Venice Film Festival, but also a transition between cities and countries, a terrible epidemic and a terrible war.
This story started three years ago. Tbornovitch, a young Ukrainian actress with no professional ties to Israel, received the script for “Valeria Gets Married”, a film by Michal Vinik whose plot takes place in Israel and deals with brides from Ukraine. “I thought the script was excellently written, with irony and without any prejudices about women from Ukraine,” she says The actress in an interview with “Maariv”. “I went online to look for information about the director, and she seemed serious to me, so of course I wanted to audition.”
All this happened in the first weeks of the epidemic. Tavornovich, who lived in Kyiv, moved to a remote town, but had to return to the capital to be photographed for the audition. “I took a taxi, and the trip took four hours and cost a lot,” she recalls. “I said to myself – if I don’t get the job, I’ll never see this money back.”
In the end, the journey paid off – Tabornovich got the role and thus found herself on another and even longer journey. She flew to Israel, which was between closures at the time, to be photographed for “Valeria Gets Married”. In it, the actress plays the heroine after whom the film is named – a young Ukrainian woman who comes to Israel to meet her intended groom, who “bought” her on the Internet. Her sister, who lives in the country, also got married in such a marriage. At first everything seems ideal, until Valeria decides that actually this arrangement does not suit her.
The result is one of the best films of recent times, which in only 70 minutes manages to create drama and tension and raise a host of fascinating questions, including big questions like what is love, what is independence and what is dependence. It is not surprising that “Valeria Gets Married” was the only Israeli film at the last Venice Film Festival, was recently screened at a number of festivals on the East Coast, received 14 nominations for the Ophir Awards and also won the screenplay award (he deserved to win most of them). This weekend it was released here, so the general public can also enjoy this gem.
It is important to emphasize that the film was filmed before the invasion of Ukraine, and also that the heroines in it come from the Russian part of the country and speak Russian – a choice that today carries other meanings. “Today it’s a trigger for me to see the movie and hear myself speaking in Russian,” says the actress in an interview that took place on Zoom on the occasion of the release of “Valeria Gets Married”. “At festivals around the world, I am always asked why we speak Russian, and I have to explain that we are going through a post-colonial process.”
Before we talk about the movie, of course I have to ask where you are, and how are you.
“In Kiev. The truth is, I lived in Germany for a few months, but I had a hard time with the fact that everyone there acts as if everything is fine. The world must understand: Russia is a problem of the whole world, not of Ukraine. I don’t think we will lose, but if we do – the invasion of Ukraine is just the beginning. I myself am fine, but missiles hit houses near me, and a close friend of mine died from being hit by one of them. Such things happen. All that can be done now is to try to maintain a human image. There is nothing else to hold on to.”
“I know that Israel is busy with its own problems, but I think that people should be updated on what is happening, even if the news broadcasts do not cover it. Israel is a brave country. You know what identity is, you know what a struggle is, you know what a missile is, so you We can be understood. Russia’s problem is not Putin. The problem is Russian society, which chooses not to choose. I and others in Ukraine have many acquaintances in Russia,” Tavornovich shared.
Before the invasion started, we contacted them and called them to fight and protest. Few did it. I see on Instagram what is being done now – and they are not doing anything about the war. This is how evil works – if no one rises up, there is no way to stop it,” she added.
Today, about two years after the filming of the film, it has become even more relevant. Following the war, the phenomenon of “brides from Ukraine” only intensified. “I personally have not heard of Ukrainian brides coming to Israel,” she says.
“Now that I know what it is about, I can express an opinion on the issue. I’m a feminist, but I’ll say something that might get feminists to kill me. I understand all A-H-T. I understand women working in the sex industry, and I understand brides to order. I think it is a complex issue that has many dimensions, and there is always a choice. Think Game of Thrones. There are many arranged marriages in the series. The women who marry like this in the series – are they all stupid? No, it’s a complex issue.”
In one of the significant moments in the film, Valeria asks her sister if she loves her husband, and her sister does not answer directly.
“I put emphasis on the question to frame it as a provocative question. I felt that Valeria’s sister was not really happy, that she did not have her voice in this relationship, that something was missing, and I rang the warning bell. Valeria is romantic. She doesn’t know how to manage a relationship and commitment that aren’t based on love alone.”
Following on from this question, you talk about a childhood memory, and it is clear that this memory is meant to symbolize something. What does it mean to you?
“It symbolizes a simple thing: when you’re a girl, you have an expectation that life will be nice and successful, but what can you do if it doesn’t always turn out that way. The life of the adults is neither nice nor easy. It’s sad, but it is what it is.”
do you have a sister in real life
“I have a good friend, older than me, who is like my big sister. Although she is not my biological sister, I still thought about her every day during the filming. Our relationship has everything – arguments, fights and also love. That’s how it is with sisters. Relationships between sisters are a complex thing, especially when you are the little sister. You need to find your voice, and it’s not easy.”
What is your relationship with the amazing Lena Freifeld, who plays your sister in the film?
“We also became sisters for everything. We call each other ‘sister’.”
Valeria’s intended partner is played by Avraham Shalom Levy. Her sister’s husband, who also organized Valeria’s “matchmaking” and takes responsibility for it being successful, is played by Yaakov Zadeh Daniel, who broke out in “Fauda” and has since been seen everywhere (and it’s a good thing! At least in my eyes, the two shape characters Two-dimensionality, which also has positive sides, or at least evoking empathy. The director Michal Vinik also said that she deliberately cast sweet actors who are easy to like for these roles. However, I also heard comments that the two men are repulsive and threatening right from the beginning of the film.
“I’ve heard that too, but I don’t think they’re ‘bad,'” says Tbornovich. “When I look at Valeria’s intended groom, I see a lost man, who has never been able to develop a relationship, and I don’t believe he’ll find someone to love him because of who that he is. It frustrates him to fail again. He’s not bad. He’s pathetic. My mom also said that the men in the movie are soft,” Tavornovich responded.
Towards the end of the interview, something happens to me that, to be honest, has never happened to me in such situations. Tavornovich turns to me and asks me if she looks like the character in the movie to me today. I answer no, because now she looks much more mature. The actress smiles and announces “Yes!”.
“I’m glad you think so, and I agree,” she says. “What you see in the film is 100% me, but I am from three years ago. This is what I looked like, outside and inside. Today I am a different woman. Because of the war, I grew up very quickly, and became a person Other. I can’t believe that three years ago I could have sat down and talked with you so seriously about such issues. The whole thing that’s going on now is terrible, but at least it made me more mature,” she concluded.
Avner Shavit is the film critic of Walla!