Audiences moved by haunting love story White Snail at PIFF

“The movie is based on two different people, two different relationships – of Masha and Misha. They are from two different worlds. Masha is from the world of modeling, and Misha, the role that I play, is an artist, so his world is totally different. But still, they’re trying to connect to each other. They met in the movie, and they had a very difficult but a very interesting relationship. They’re trying to know each other better, and at the same time, they emerge into themselves,” said Senkov.

He had, reportedly, first met the director, Kremser, at a film festival. He had taken her to a morgue. Then, to his apartment where he had a number of paintings, including of a woman who had tried to take her life and survived.

Told through an intimate and atmospheric lens, the film unravels a fragile love story between two outsiders, questioning notions of beauty, mortality, and belonging. “The title White Snail symbolises the context of Masha. Her hair and her skin are white. In the Russian language, we have an expression that white snail is a person who is different from others. It’s like a metaphor,” said Senkov.

He said that the most emotional part for him was when the couple was discussing, arguing by a lake. “They are very kind people and arguing, for them, is quite difficult. They have very kind hearts,” he said.

The actor said that the most dramatic part was the final, when “Masha is giving me white snails”. “Because, it was really the moment when we were saying goodbye to each other. But, it was easy to act this part,” he said.