There’s something entirely different next with 1952’s trippy but grim Russian animation The Snow Maiden (aka Snegurochka). In a nutshell, this intricate but dour film tells the story of how the titular magical snow maiden, daughter of godlike ‘Spring the Beauty’ and ‘Ded Moroz’ (or ‘Father Frost’), yearns for the companionship of mortal humans. As far as I can follow, she visits the world of humans and grows to quite fancy a dandy fellow named Lel, but her heart is apparently unable to know love. Taking pity, her mystical mother grants her this ability, but as soon as she falls in love, her heart warms up and she melts. Ain’t that always the way?
Watching this, it really doesn’t feel all that festive in the ways that I would expect, but swotting up on my ancient Russian folklore, I discover that ‘Ded Moroz’ is a legendary figure in Slavic mythology, considered very similar to Santa Claus. Here, he really looks like St. Nick, with his big tummy and big white beard, though is a lot less jolly and pleasant. He’s also depicted as bringing gifts to children, so yeah, he’s pretty much Santa and this totally counts as a Christmas film, even if it is all a miserable slog.
I confess that I need to google the plot for this as I’m really not confident that I’m following what the heck is going on. Turns out that in some mystical pre-history period Russia it has been winter for 15 solid years because the Spring Beauty and Grandpa Frost fell in love, so the Sun God took the hump and buggered off for a bit, forbidding the sun to shine after they had a child. Grown-up Snegurochka decides she wants to find out what this love malarkey is all about and has her eye on human Lel who likes to prance about with a flute, which must have been the fashion at the time. Mom and dad give her a heart so she can go hang out with the humans for a while, kind of like that time Annie Claus took a Summer break from the North Pole.
In the human village, some lecherous dude with an earring decides he fancies the snow maiden and unceremoniously dumps his own girlfriend on the spot to chase after her, which is seriously sucky. The jilted ex runs off and complains to the Tsar about this and it all kicks off. For some reason our snow maiden decides she really does like Earring Guy after all, even though he acts like a dick. Then, as soon as she feels the actual emotion of love, she just melts. Then Earring Guy, devastated, jumps off a cliff, before the townsfolk all rejoice, hailing the Sun God who then reappears, bringing Summer back. The End.
Though this is a cartoon, I’m really not sure many children would get much joy from watching it. There are certainly lots of cute furry animals and dancing ‘forest goblins’ at the start but the film is mostly full of opera singing and dull politics leading up to that tragic suicide at the end. What starts out quite Disney and beautiful turns seriously dark and uncomfortable, with the film giving off some unsettling Midsommar type vibes. All hail the bloodthirsty God of the Sun!
To be fair, the film features some impressive rotoscoping animation work for the opening dance sequence set to stirring Tchaikovsky music that sees various birds and forest creatures join in with our humanoid characters against some astonishing painted forest backdrops. For a 70 year old film, it’s technically brilliant even if I find the full-blown opera segments unpalatable. I’m also not too sure why the maiden’s love interest Lel - a bloke - sounds like he’s voiced by a woman for his singing parts.
Overall, this really is not what you expect from a cartoon at all. I’ve watched a few movies already about Santa’s daughter, but this is the only one where she perishes at the end and it’s treated as a win for the good guys. Those crazy Communists. Maybe avoid this one if you’re looking for some jovial family fun round the fire this season.
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