Olga
A fifteen-year-old Ukrainian gymnast is sent abroad as violence erupts in Kyiv.
This is the first feature by Elie Grappe who comes from Lyon but whose film is mainly set in Switzerland where he has lived for some twelve years or so. However, what counts most is the fact that this is the story of a 15-year-old gymnast who is Ukrainian. This titular role is played very effectively by Anastasia Budiashkina who had not acted in a film before but was a gymnast in real life and had played for Ukraine's national team. The film was completed in time to be premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival so it is inevitably far from being up-to-date regarding the tragic situation in Ukraine. Nevertheless, this work in which sport plays a central role does not feel dated. It is indeed set in the winter of 2013 and 2014 but that was the time of the ruthless suppression of the public protests in Kyiv’s Maidan square. Olga gives considerable prominence to the violence that was being imposed on the people of Ukraine. That was done by their then president, the pro-Russian Victor Yanukovych, and it now plays like a significant precursor to Putin's war.
Olga starts in Kyiv where Olga is living with her mother, Ilona (Tanya Mikhina), a journalist critical of Yanukovych. At this time Olga has already become a serious gymnast and, when Ilona's work results in her being targeted, she is happy to dispatch Olga to Switzerland. There she will be safer and able to train for what she hopes will be participation in the 2014 Euro Championships in Zurich. It helps, too, that Olga’s late father had been Swiss so that she has relatives in Switzerland, including her grandfather (Roger Jendly), with whom she can make contact.
Most stories centred on a competitive sport build towards a climax in which the success or failure of the leading figure at some key event is the crux of the film. Here, however, the focus is much more on Olga’s concerns over what is happening in Ukraine and the danger that it poses to her mother. This is enough in itself to create stress that could interfere with her gymnastic skills. But it is central to the film that whether through TV reports or iPhone images Olga is able to see from afar what is happening in Kyiv. Grappe's film accordingly incorporates actual video images of the Euromaidan protests which for the most part fit in quite naturally. It ensures that the political element is never secondary to the story of Olga’s sporting life.
Grappe brings an almost documentarian approach to the scenes of the female gymnasts training and it is a huge benefit to the film that Budiashkina’s genuine skills in this field can be brought into play here. At the same time the present sympathy felt for the Ukrainian people in their resistance to Putin adds to the empathy that audiences will feel for Olga. This is a great asset and one that the film is sometimes reliant on because there are occasions when the writing suggests a screenplay that would have gained from further development. It is sometimes a bit scrappy in portraying the relationships between Olga and certain of her fellow gymnasts (several of whom are again portrayed by women who are indeed participants in the sport). In the film’s last quarter, the passing of time is far too vague and it feels clumsy when stylised images abruptly move forward to 2020 and we suddenly find ourselves back in Kyiv. These are weaknesses understandable in a first feature and most audiences will readily forgive them. That will be due both to the impact that Budiashkina makes on the screen and because Olga provides a welcome opportunity to respond in a way that is expressive of openhearted approval for ordinary Ukrainian people.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Anastasia Budiashkina, Sabrina Rubtsova, Caterina Barloggio, Théa Brogli, Jérôme Martin, Tanya Mikhina, Alicia Onomor, Lou Stefen, Aleksandr Mavrits, Roger Jendly, Philippe Schuler.
Dir Elie Grappe, Pro Jean-Marc Fröhle and Tom Dercourt, Screenplay Elie Grappe and Raphaëlle Desplechin, Ph Lucie Baudinaud, Pro Des Pascal Baillods and Ivan Niclass, Ed Suzana Pedro, Music Pierre Desprats.
Point Prod/Cinémadefacto/Canal+/Cine+-606 Distribution.
85 mins. Switzerland/France/Ukraine. 2021. UK Rel: 18 March 2022. No Cert.