— Perhaps you know better than most what the spirit of the Patriarchs is, because you were born in this region… How has this place changed in recent years?
– I’ll probably talk like an old lady (laughing). Because the region has really changed a lot in recent years. If you know everyone who went to or worked in a nearby shop before because everyone was a neighbor, now there are no such shops anymore. You have to leave the area to buy household chemicals, groceries, household items. When the transformation of the Patriarch’s Ponds into a kind of Soho began to take place (a quarter in London – socialbites.ca), many local residents of the area began to rent and sell apartments. Restaurants appeared, then even more restaurants and Patriarch’s place turned into a kind of gastronomic zone.
But for me – as for a person who has lived in Patricks all his life – this is a dubious plus, because I still want to get out of the house and buy ordinary, not green buckwheat. Even though I sit with friends and complain that life is not the same in Patriarch’s Ponds, they laugh: “Oh, of course! Check it out – he still doesn’t like something! But it seems to me that I have the right to criticize because I have seen this field in different years. For a carefree party life, the modern Patriarch’s Ponds are well suited, but not so good for a quiet family life with children, which I still adhere to. I love patriarchs early in the morning when they just wake up.
– Do you think “Unprincipled” shows the real life of this region?
– I can only answer for my novel. It seems to me that my hero lives by more mundane, quite understandable demands: how to find love, what to do with it, how to understand if he is serious. These stories could have happened to both Patrick and Chistye Prudy. In other short stories, such heroes probably exist, but I do not come across them in my life.
— Your heroine Vera is always trying to get Roman back. How realistic is it for a beautiful, successful and smug woman to be so obsessed with a man?
– I also ask this question to the screenwriters (laughing). I would like to believe such a story, today more and more often you meet people who are focused on themselves and not on anyone else. By the way, we often discussed with Yura (Kolokolnikov, who played the role of Roman – socialbites.ca) why he was chasing after her.
– How would you explain to yourself why your hero wants to marry Roman?
– Of course, this is a somewhat hypertrophic situation, the genre suggests handling it with humor. But on the other hand, why not? When you live together for two seasons, there comes a time when you grab your neck and say, “Enough is enough. Let’s do it this way or not.” Because my hero likes to have certainty in everything. And it seems that he takes the initiative into his own hands, as he finds that in the person of Roman he wants to fall asleep and wake up together.
If you were writing a screenplay, how would you develop that story?
“Since these are short stories, it’s pretty hard to tell here how to do it in the context of a full scale or a hero arc. These are sketches from life, and if the girl’s task is to finally get a man, then the main thing is to understand why she did this, why she fell in love with a man who could not propose to her.
– Then answer the name of the hero, because he has a alter ego Albina. How is he?
Yes, my hero has had it since season one. Once I went to a bar, apparently with the expectation that it was Albina, people parted. But Albina did not come, I came.
Have you ever met people who, under the influence of alcohol, arouse a second personality?
– It seems to me that every person has an inner Albina. Only someone releases him at home in front of the TV with a glass of wine and quietly lays him in bed, and someone makes it clear like this. When a person drinks, they still experience a change of consciousness. A person can begin to communicate more easily if he is quiet and modest. And if he is talkative, then it is better for him not to drink (laughing). In general, I think it’s better for everyone not to drink. And the stories about Albina serve to show what can happen to a person who, in his short screen time, does not drink, does not drink – and suddenly drinks.
– Will Albina be in the movie version too?
– Of course, without Albina, an incredible success.