Cinema
The Last Relic
Viimne reliikvia
Grigori Kromanov · 1970
Synopsis
Livonia, in the sixteenth century, during the Livonian War. The old knight Risbieter bequeaths to his son a holy relic, coveted by the abbess and the monks of the Pirita convent. The young Risbieter wants to marry Agnes, the abbess's niece, and promises the relic to the convent; but insurgents attack the betrothal, and Agnes is saved by Gabriel, a free man who loves her at first sight. On the road to Tallinn, the monks, Ivo Schenkenberg's band and the bride's family set off in pursuit.
Context
Arvo Valton wrote several versions of the screenplay, very freely drawn from a novel by Eduard Bornhöhe published in 1893; Lennart Meri, the studio's editor, joked that all that remained of it was Agnes's horse. The crew obtained 750,000 roubles, more than double an ordinary budget, and filmed in the old town of Tallinn, at the Dominican convent, at Taevaskoja, at Kuressaare castle and in Latvia. Paul-Eerik Rummo wrote the songs in August 1968, while the tanks were entering Prague, to music by Uno and Tõnu Naissoo. The first Estonian film to be restored digitally, it was re-released on 15 March 2002.
Who it is for
Eighty-six minutes in Estonian, in colour. You need to know that the songs, written for the film, have become tunes that the whole country knows, as have many of the lines.
Prizes and reception
Absolute record at the Soviet box office with nearly 45 million admissions, and some 772,000 in Estonia in the first year; the only cult film of the country, according to critics.