In the sprawling, controversial universe of Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s DAU project—a re-creation of a Stalin-era Soviet research institute populated by non-professional actors living under totalitarian conditions for years—most films feel like artifacts smuggled out of a crime scene. But DAU. Katya Tanya (2020) is different. It feels like the crime itself.
Directed by Jekaterina Oertel and Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Katya Tanya is perhaps the most accessible and yet the most viscerally disturbing entry in the 14-film cycle. Stripped of the abstract physics metaphors found in films like DAU. Nora Mother or DAU. The Conformist, this film presents a raw, claustrophobic two-hander. It asks a single, brutal question: What happens to intimacy when there are no rules, no privacy, and no escape? DAU. Katya Tanya
Before understanding Katya and Tanya, it is necessary to understand Dau. He is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, a genius, but also a man of extreme appetites. He is portrayed as intellectually superior but emotionally stunted, hedonistic, and often cruel in his personal relationships. He believes in "free love" but often practices it at the expense of the women who love him. Suggested Length & Structure
First, context is crucial. The DAU project, inspired by the life of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Lev Landau (nicknamed "Dau"), rebuilt a 1:1 scale Soviet research institute and communal apartment in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Non-professional actors lived in character for months. Cameras were hidden everywhere. There was no script—only "situations." Short story: 2,000–4,000 words focusing on a single
"DAU. Katya Tanya" (original title: Катина Таня or variations focusing on the two women) is the second film in the series released in 2020 via the DAU Cinema platform. Running approximately 100 minutes, it shifts focus from the male-dominated corridors of power (the institute) to the claustrophobic, floral-wallpapered purgatory of a shared apartment.
The film stars:
The casting is the first clue that the line between actor and character has been completely demolished.