Interfax-Ukraine
13:27 22.09.2025

I'm ready to buy eggs for everyone who criticizes cinema - 'Malevich' director Onyschenko

5 min read
I'm ready to buy eggs for everyone who criticizes cinema - 'Malevich' director Onyschenko

The director of the film “Malevich” Daria Onyschenko has said that she believes that the project’s goal is not to fully tell about the life of avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich or explain his work.

“If I make my own art film, it is very important for me to show my vision of a specific topic or world. Therefore, I always emphasize that this is my vision of Malevich during the war in 2022. I know that by doing this, I probably did not meet the expectations of many people regarding the figure of Malevich, who were waiting for the film in a more classic version of a biopic. But I simply did as my intuition told me,” Onyschenko said in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency, answering a question about the appropriateness of including episodes dedicated to a full-scale war in the film.

The director noted that some might consider it a provocation that she combined a modern war and a story about Malevich.

“But all these years of this full-scale invasion, I have been taking the time to contribute to our victory. And that is why it is important for me that when we show the film to a Western audience, we once again remind and frankly talk about what is happening now,” she emphasized.

The director also agreed that the rather disjointed storyline made the film somewhat confusing for a wide audience.

“But the more I worked on this film, the more I realized that I could not make a classic biopic about the most non-classical artist… The fact that the film is difficult to perceive for an audience that is not at all prepared is a fact. For people who do not know any historical contexts at all, or are hearing the words Suprematism for the first time, it is difficult,” she added, agreeing that the film lacked an information and educational campaign.

At the same time, according to Onyschenko, her goal as a feature film director is to inspire people who watch this film to “go online, compare biographical facts with fictional and fictional facts, learn something new about Malevich, about Tatlin, and become interested in the topic in general.”

“Biopics are really a very difficult genre. When I started this project, I knew this, and now I understand it even more. Especially after this barrage of criticism that has now fallen on me. But it really seems to me that this is not the goal of this project - to tell the whole story of Malevich’s life or explain his work,” she added.

Onyschenko also said that she had no doubts about the decision not to cut scenes with actor Konstantin Temlyak from the film, against whom even before the start of the release there were accusations of domestic violence, and criminal proceedings were also opened.

“You know, I get criticism from both sides. On the one hand, feminists attacked me, shouting that I ‘didn’t cut off Temlyak’s penis.’ On the other hand, sexists attacked me, saying, ‘How could a blonde even make a film about Malevich?’ Therefore, if you are already making a film about Malevich, you should be prepared for such attacks. When the play ‘Victory over the Sun’ was released in 1913, the audience threw rotten eggs and tomatoes at the stage. Therefore, I am ready to buy a tray of eggs for everyone who criticizes cinema,” she added.

Among other things, the director responded to criticism regarding the appropriateness of the sex scenes in the film and their content.

“It seems to me that in general, when I shoot sex from a movie, I try to do it artistically, cinematically. This is not some kind of cheap pornography. It is important for me that there is an artistic aesthetic in it. I think this movie has it. In these scenes as well,” the author noted.

The director emphasized that she is very pleased that there is a lot of discussion around the movie right now.

“Some people really like the movie, people leave the theater and cry. We had many screenings where people applauded standing. There is a lot of criticism where people write that this is a terrible movie, that everything is wrong, and Malevich was completely different, and how could you show so much sex in this movie. I think it is good that people talk about the movie, that it triggers them, that it provokes. I would like to believe that Malevich would be pleased,” Onyschenko said.

The feature film “Malevich” by director Daria Onyschenko, which was released in wide release on September 11, tells the story of the life and work of avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich.

As reported, the director of the film “Malevich” Onyschenko states that one of the goals of the film is the decolonization of Malevich and the return of his name to the Ukrainian context, and one of the most important messages of the film is that today’s war is not only Vladimir Putin’s.

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