The video description seems to be accurate, but what I don't understand is: why is it so bad that the wife is a hen, and why is she so unaccepting when her husband seemingly becomes a rooster? Also, why was the visitor so invested in breaking apart the couple? Was he attracted to the husband, or did he just hate hens and whatever they represent? Why was his gift a box full of ladybugs, and what do the ladybugs represent? I don't think I will ever fully grasp this animation.
An immediate and horribly uncomfortable detail of this short is that he is given stripes, while she has isometric dots in which a Star-of-David could be drawn. Their religion is not what puts them at risk however: it's about their ethnicity. Their son is literally a bug=informant. Ladybirds=bugs. The camping-van represents their migration into Russia and plays their mother-country's folk-music (but notice how his son has fallen hook line and sinker for the adoptive state's propaganda). When the visitor comes he needs to hide the camper van, but when he tries to make peace with his wife he lets it loose on the carpet and plays it loudly in the background. I regret I can't place the folk music - but since it's from 1990 and in case there might be a multilingual pun I'll guess perhaps "His Wife is a Chechen". But there are so many tribal areas in central Europe that this story could be about. And it isn't a surreal story at all: the looks on people's faces and the clues in their little gestures are all someone's lived experience. We should recognize the displacement and alienation and it should move us even if we can't grasp the context.
@@linuxforpunks Ого! Такой интерпретации я еще не читал.) Автор в одном из интервью говорил что ему нравится когда каждый понимает по своему. А смысл банальный на мой взгляд, фильм про любовь.
Ну курица любила не петуха а синего мужика. Посетитель это тот самый дерьмовый друг, который подталкивает тебя к херне и ты сначала думаеш да он прав а потом остаешся в гавне... Божьи коровки я не знаю, просто прикольно.)
*My best guess:* The blue guy had a very comfy life thanks to his wife. But a "little worm of doubt" always been following him. Worm didn't like the wife. Thought she was a chicken ("a chicken" is a rude naming for a woman in Russia, just like "a cow" in England). But as long as she showed kindness to the both of them they were somewhat okay with the situation. But one day paranoia paid the visit. Brought a box of ladybugs, that bugged the guy, but not his worm and feed their fill. After that, the blue guy decided to break up with a wife. Soon enough he realized he made a mistake. Life became significantly worse. He can't read books or listen music anymore. He feel like drowning. Blue guy understood that the visitor was his own paranoia, a voice in the head. And clearly sees that he brought it upon himself. He shuts up the worm of doubt, ties this mаdаfаkа down and calls a wife. Of course she forgives her husband, because she is a kind and loving person. But once she enters the house and sees him for who he truly is... she runs away. She thought her beloved one was a man. With human head and feet. She idolized him. But it turns out he is a real chicken here (don't forget it's a word that points to the set of bad traits in a person). And decides that she deserves a better life. And leaves crying. Let's hope she'll find a nice guy and will never be abused again. Happy end. ______ P.S. Sorry for mistakes or anything like that. I'm russian and my english is far from perfect.
@@magicmoonart Read more comments, you will learn and very interesting interpretations as well. Couldn’t stop thinking about it after I viewed it - great work!
Admit it, you couldn’t look away - really grabs the audience. Hardship can be shown, but rebellion had to be subtle enough to miss the censors in Russia. This about domestic life. Hen is a pejorative for lazy, bored housewife. Maggot a pejorative for child. Kovalyov's animation is hugely influential: he worked on Rugrats, Aaahh Real Monsters, Duckman, Wild Thornberry's... ARM in particular, designed the look of based on this film.
From another blog: Igor was once a hockey goalie. I've always like goalies. They wear really cool masks with crazy artwork on them. Goalies are always a little different from the rest of the players. Imagine, they are the last line of defense. Padded from head to toe, they are asked to stop a piece of rubber, often travelling at 100mph, from getting through them. It's fucking crazy really. And yet through it all, they express no emotion. They are a portrait of serenity. It's unique to goalies because for the rest of us masks serve many functions. They can do many things: smiles, laughs, tears, groans and grins. But you never know what lies beneath those artifices. You think you know. You assume you know. In the deepest regions of your naïve heart you don't want to know what lies beneath these strange surfaces we encounter on a daily basis. This is very much the world that Igor Kovalyov's films depict. His characters smile politely while betraying, sneaking. Lecherous beasts existing for themselves. No one able to truly communicate with another. No one knowing the other. The result is a world of loneliness, alienation and imprisonment. Imagine a world where you think your friend might be fucking your lover. While the dead sleep in one room, life goes on unbeknownst to them. This is the kind of world that Kovalyov has created. A dark landscape of paranoia. Selfish, alienated beings desperate for any kind of contact at any kind of price. To contact is to live. To live is to feel the warmth of a woven cloth sheltering them from their fears. Hen, His Wife is set in a small apartment. There is a blue man, his hen wife, and a human-worm pet. Life is fine. A visitor arrives. He reveals the hen to the man. The man freaks out. Tosses the chicken out. Hallucinates. In the end, facing a life of loneliness, changes to accommodate her. The hen returns momentarily. Upon discovering his change, she flees in horror. This is not what she wanted. This is not the man she married. Just another fugged up family. The visitor exists only within the conscience of this blue man who cannot see the world around him for what it is. But while the ensuing awakening breaks the circular monotony of the couple's life (as symbolized by the bus circling atop the record player), the man, though physically altered, remains the same blind being he was before, but now alone. The reaction to the film was varied. Colleagues Zhenia Delioussine and Andrei Svislotsky (who would follow Kovalyov to Hollywood) didn't understand it. Yuri Norstein saw it and said he would like to see it again. For Kovalyov this was a big compliment coming from the guarded Norstein. For Khitruk, Hen, His Wife was a prime example of an independent film made not for money but for the self. On the festival circuit, Hen, His Wife surprised many and pissed off even more when it won the Grand Prize at the Ottawa '90 International Animation Festival.
Because people have clicked the thumbnail. Whoever first clicked on this video started a chain that reached you and now me. We'll see where it goes now.
@@konstantinandrianov7287 I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for helping me find that song. I was really struggling, and your assistance meant so much to me! You made my day, and I truly appreciate your time and effort. I can’t thank you enough! 🤸
