Landscapes of Memory in El’ior Ishmukhamedov’s 'Tenderness' (Uzbekfilm 1966)

• In Event: Textures of Memory in Films of the Soviet Peripheries

Abstract

This paper explores the fleeting presence of memory in El’ior Ishmukhamedov’s film Tenderness (Uzbekfilm 1966), and its connection to Tashkent’s urban and exurban environment as depicted in the film. As its title indicates, Tenderness focuses on feelings, affective experiences of the world. However, the title’s seemingly positive connotation is complicated by the emotional landscape the film presents—which, even if “tender,” is dominated by sadness, longing, and uncertainty. Lacking a fully developed narrative, the film depicts fragmented moments of unfulfilled love, unsaid words, and of people who eventually die. The hint of an explanation for such a state is World War II, the memory of which sparingly enters the story.

This emotional discontent is mapped onto spaces that feature little of Tashkent’s recognizable landmarks or streets, despite the film being promoted as “dedicated to Tashkent youth and filmed on the streets of the city.” The first half of the film prioritizes the city’s river and surrounding structures, while its second shifts to a white-washed, desert-like landscape outside the city. Only occasionally do buildings and urban streets appear, and even then, in a highly circumscribed manner.

This paper discusses how we might understand the relationship between memory and these environments. I am interested in examining why the memory of World War II— and specifically, of the siege of Leningrad—is intertwined with the images of Tashkent’s river and the Uzbek desert landscape; and how these images invite us to think of other—local—memories that remain within Tenderness unarticulated and unsaid.