March 14 on TNT the comedy series “Correction and Punishment” is released, in which Anna Mikhalkova played an employee of the colony-settlement Alena Neverova – a woman with a special approach to the re-education of prisoners.
According to the plot, the Verkholantsev family unexpectedly came to visit Neverova – her relatives by father, an oligarch who died an absurd death under a church bell. The Verkholantsevs were unable to receive a huge inheritance – all the money was withdrawn to a foreign account, the key to which is supposedly kept by Neverova. The simple-minded Alena knows nothing regarding money, but the Verkholantsevs do not believe her, and therefore they burn her house in order to get through to the truth they need.
The trick not only does not work – the majors receive a term for it, which they will have to serve in this very colony. Everyone who gets here is tested by the methods of Neverova, who is ready to make a man out of any scoundrel.
Neverova is one of the most unusual heroines played by Mikhalkova. It is interesting to decompose her versatility into numbers in order to understand what kind of Russian-Soviet woman she is, believing in good no matter what.
Realistic “fantastic” heroine
Behind the realistic image of an ordinary Russian woman from the hinterland and the comedic mask of a teacher who is ready to reach out to good by any, even the most cruel means, one can see the dramatic scope of the character. Alyonushka Viktorovna, as the prisoners and employees call her, is not a conventional comedy unit, thanks to which the sitcom works. This is a deep image worked out to the smallest detail, in which realism balances with fantasy: Neverova is a one hundred percent recognizable heroine, while there is simply no one like her – unconditionally believing in goodness.
“At one point, it became clear that we were digging quite deeply, exploring several Russian mental traditions, which means that we need a deep and at the same time folk actress. This is how the image of Anna Nikitichna arose, – say the producers of the Good Story Media company, which came up with the series. – And when Mikhalkova read the script for the first two episodes, she agreed to star in the pilot only on the condition that this in-depth study of ours would continue. Of course, this inspired us and imposed even greater responsibility for the work.”
Photo: TNT
The script, as we have already mentioned, was not written with an eye to invite Anna Mikhalkova to the series – however, during the filming, it was adapted for her. The image of Neverova became wider and more accurate thanks to the suggestions of the actress. For example, with her submission, references to Soviet films, cartoons and fairy tales appeared in the series.
In one of the scenes, Neverova turns on Jeanne, the young widow of Verkholantsev, her favorite film – “D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” – and advises especially to look at the fate of the villain and seductress Milady. The good intention to awaken empathy in Zhanna with the help of one of the most popular Soviet films turns into sadism at the moment when Alena rewinds the tape over and over once more, forcing Zhanna to watch the film around the clock – and this is the whole “beauty” of Neverova’s method.
An interesting fact: Neverova’s conviction that every person is kind – you just need to give him a chance to discover this goodness in himself – is also shared by Mikhalkov. She admitted this many times in interviews.
Photo: TNT
Skalively stories
Alena Neverova has a backstory that the viewer will not immediately recognize – let’s allow ourselves a small spoiler to dive into the context. It turns out that Neverova does not know life outside the colony: she was born here when the elder Verkholantsev dumped the blame for organizing a financial pyramid on her mother and fled; I grew up here, buried my mother and, as if by the tide, she herself became an employee of the colony, stuck in Soviet timelessness. And in this timelessness with plywood offices and modest barracks, they did not hear anything regarding the new psychology, non-violent methods of education, etc.
A portrait of Makarenko hangs in Neverova’s office, the same “Parental House” by Leshchenko or “Let There Always Be Sunshine” is sung at common prison holidays, the perimeter of the colony is hung with quotes regarding labor and collectivism.
Neverova absorbed this culture with her mother’s milk, and therefore broadcasts it to others – and exaggeratedly, because this is the essence of comedy.
She wants to educate Oxford major Verkholantsev with the help of the fairy tale “The Wolf and the Seven Kids”. Jeanne is forced to talk to her parents, staging a fairy tale regarding a kolobok, and in the older Verkholantseva, who is addicted to alcohol, she tries to awaken bright strong-willed impulses with the help of Maxim Gorky’s story Danko.
Photo: TNT
Zakold school alka
According to the set of cultural references, Neverova is a child of the Soviet Union, flesh of the flesh of the old regime culture. Therefore, there are practically no references to foreign authors in the series – except for those who were recognized by the Soviet authorities, passed through the Iron Curtain and published in millions of copies. This is a great friend of all Soviet teenagers, Ray Bradbury, who opened the curtain on the world of Western capitalism Honore de Balzac and Goethe – Pushkin’s German “brother”. From each of them, Neverova sought out quotes regarding mistakes, labor and art that suited her methodology – but in reality Mikhalkova found them, carefully working on the image.
The comical image of Mikhalkova also lies in the fact that being like her – firmly standing on the ideals of Soviet culture – is not at all necessary. Although the colony depicted in the series is stuck in timelessness, it still has employees who managed to accept the new world – for example, one of the guards who watches Yuri Dud’s interview at lunch, and during working hours thinks regarding how to heat the prisoners and get benefits.
Photo: TNT
In this contrast of Soviet and modern, the image of Neverova becomes even brighter, but only until the moment when her fabulous technique fails and Alena turns into a monster, ready to break a person for the sake of kindness and humiliate his dignity.
In general, the image of Alyonushka Viktorovna Neverova and the series as a whole, which already in the title nods to the pillar of Russian classics Dostoevsky, can also be explained by his other quote from another novel – The Brothers Karamazov: “A man is wide, too wide, I would narrow it down.”
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