Maybe it is flawed at the core as someone mentioned - perhaps too erotic, too reckless when it comes to human relations (one would like to see a caring mother, a loyal husband etc.). But then there is the extensive imaginary of steppes, the ever-still nature indifferent to any human affairs. The force far greater than the convention. The long scenes are poetic, the music, the scarcity of dialogue - all together make an unforgettable experience. It's an astonishing spectacle of human passions.
I see all the striving of the main characters as a way to break free from the slow death served by these idyllic landscapes. A way to show that human passions conquer everything: including nature, customs or any terrestrial rationality. Just like in the scene where Vera escapes her husband to the lover, escapes rooting away with the person she doesn't love to something uncertain, yet powerful enough to abandon what is certain. I think this film never really wanted to deal with morality and doesn't claim that infidelity is accepted, it rather shows two antagonistic powers: one of the stillness, and one of the passion. In the place where stillness reigns, passions burn one's soul, to burst when the time comes. For Vera and for Pavel the time has come. Once they break the flow of stillness, they are lost - lying on the grass completely aghast, muttering words that no longer have meanings, nor sound. Finally they are punished for breaking the flow, for their rebellion and courage. And that is what seems to beyond Vera's understanding, as if life didn't want to grant permission for that extraordinary happiness, as if it opposed their love. Or maybe it's not any metaphysical force but "merely" human passions - conflicting human passions in the flow of life that is beyond comprehension, just like a ride on a motorbike, arranged by someone else for you.
I see all the striving of the main characters as a way to break free from the slow death served by these idyllic landscapes. A way to show that human passions conquer everything: including nature, customs or any terrestrial rationality. Just like in the scene where Vera escapes her husband to the lover, escapes rooting away with the person she doesn't love to something uncertain, yet powerful enough to abandon what is certain. I think this film never really wanted to deal with morality and doesn't claim that infidelity is accepted, it rather shows two antagonistic powers: one of the stillness, and one of the passion. In the place where stillness reigns, passions burn one's soul, to burst when the time comes. For Vera and for Pavel the time has come. Once they break the flow of stillness, they are lost - lying on the grass completely aghast, muttering words that no longer have meanings, nor sound. Finally they are punished for breaking the flow, for their rebellion and courage. And that is what seems to beyond Vera's understanding, as if life didn't want to grant permission for that extraordinary happiness, as if it opposed their love. Or maybe it's not any metaphysical force but "merely" human passions - conflicting human passions in the flow of life that is beyond comprehension, just like a ride on a motorbike, arranged by someone else for you.