Monogamous director: how Vadim Abdrashitov lived his whole life with one woman

Monogamous director: how Vadim Abdrashitov lived his whole life with one woman

Creative people are emotional and loving. In the cinema, directors often break up romances with actresses, families break up. But Vadim Abdrashitov was monogamous – from his youth until his death he was faithful to one woman. Let’s go back to the director’s life.

Vadim Abdrashitov’s father was a military man, but he also introduced his son to the world of art. The man played the violin and mandolin, loved to sing and taught the child to read – there was a huge library in the house, which always moved with his family throughout the USSR. It is not surprising that as a child Vadim Abdrashitov turned to the creative profession: he became interested in photography when his cousin gave him a Komsomolets camera and with pleasure visited the children’s theater studio .

But everything changed with Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space in 1961. Abdrashitov was then 16 years old, it was time to decide on a future profession. The teenager passed his final exams as an external student and rushed to Moscow, where he entered the famous Institute of Physics and Mathematics in Dolgoprudny, Moscow region, at the Faculty of Chemical Physics. However, thoughts about creativity still did not let him go, and how could he distract himself from them – the “thaw” of the 60s was in the yard, cultural life was bubbling even among physicists, the time was a revival of spiritual life in the country. Abdrashitov became increasingly convinced that he wanted to make films. It took almost 10 years to make up his mind and make a decision that would once again radically change his life.

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In 1970, two significant events happened simultaneously in the life of Abdrashitov: he entered VGIK in the directing department of the great Mikhail Romm and married Natella Toidze, who would become his main muse and love for life. Abdrashitov was then 25 years old, his chosen one was 20 years old.

They met at the Maison du Cinéma. Vadim Abdrashitov presented his thesis there, the short film “Stop Potapov!”. Natella, hearing only his voice, immediately realized that it was her man. They no longer separated.

Natella came from a creative family. His father was the famous sculptor Georgy Toidze, winner of four Stalin Prizes, author of the famous poster “The Fatherland Calls!”.

Natella herself continued the creative dynasty and became an artist. Today she is an academician of the Russian Academy of Arts and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.

Although both are at the beginning of their creative journey, they have not postponed the birth of their first child. When Abdrashitov graduated from VGIK, son Oleg was born, and in 1980 daughter Nana was born.

The children in their own way continued the work of their parents. The son inherited his father’s first profession. He also became interested in physics, graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, from which Abdrashitov never graduated, then from Columbia University, and then remained to work in the United States .

“And we miss him, and we miss him, but here we still can’t find work in the specialty,” Abdrashitov commented on his son’s departure in 2005.

Daughter Nana continued the family tradition from her mother’s side and became an artist. She graduated from the scenography faculty of GITIS, after which she collaborated with the Bolshoi Theater. Tovstonogov, Moscow Art Theatre. AP Chekhov, Theater of Nations, Sovremennik, Theater. Leningrad City Council and other famous theaters. Nana has also made a name for herself as a costume designer and graphic illustrator. She has three children.

Abdrashitov said little about his personal life during his lifetime. As if protecting his “fortress”, in interviews he often limited himself to short phrases and “profile” data: married, has children, happy.

Abdrashitov shot his last film in 2003 – it was the film “Magnetic Storms”, after which he focused on teaching at VGIK. Among his students was the famous Piotr Buslov.

Abdrashitov sincerely worried about the development of Russian cinema, which he was not afraid to speak about publicly.

“If Russian cinema loses the soil of our culture under its feet, it will have consequences on the scale of a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said.

The director died on February 12 at the age of 79 from cancer.

Source: The Voice Mag

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