David (Georgian actor Merab Ninidze) is a university professor of literature who will find himself in serious trouble when he publishes a caricature of the mayor of an unnamed provincial town in a sexual clinch with an ostrich. With this move, he obviously wanted to point out the corruption of the mayor and the entire system. However, instead of the mayor, he should appear before the court because the accusation that he embezzled money to finance the international conference came as retaliation. While awaiting the start of the trial, David is under house arrest, banned from using the Internet and television, and very soon, when the accusations appeared, he was disowned by practically everyone he knew.
His worried mother comes to visit him and begs him to admit what he is being accused of and save himself the trouble, but David refuses because he claims he is not guilty. And although it is very quickly clear to us that David is not really a saint, but one of those somewhat arrogant, egotistical and self-loving academic types who think that they have drunk all the wisdom of the world and that they are incredibly important, Russian filmmaker Aleksey German Jr. he recorded a somewhat absurdist satire that is extremely critical of the current Russian regime. What David is going through, many intellectuals who dared to criticize the regime, to point out corruption and corruption (the famous filmmaker Kiril Srebrenikov comes to mind first) in Russia, ended up similar to the character from this tragicomedy.
Over time, the situation there becomes crazier and crazier because the increasingly desperate David starts to indulge in alcohol, and his house starts to turn into a real pigsty. Apart from the old mother, other people also come to the house and ask him to confess everything and thus get a lighter sentence. His ex-wife occasionally brings him food and drinks, and she is now in a relationship with an entrepreneur who does most of the business with the city, and that’s why she doesn’t react much to David’s rants that the mayor is the biggest thief and that all evil starts from him. Even his doctor tries to persuade him to give up, and the only lawyer with him is Anna, who agreed to work pro bono to free him.
Outside the house, his students are gathering to support him, but there are apparently paid protesters who insult him and accuse him of being a thief. Over time, the situation becomes more and more dangerous because some unknown guy will break into his house and beat him up, and such a thing will not surprise anyone, especially not the policeman who is fully aware of what is really happening, but he also convinces David that it would be best if he confesses everything and finish everything as soon as possible. This minimalist tragicomedy, filmed almost entirely in David’s apartment and the surrounding area, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes festival.
“Delo” or “House Arrest” is at the same time an undisguised criticism of the Russian regime, which obviously likes to deal with dissidents in an identical way and stifle freedom of speech if necessary in such an absurd way. However, apart from the censorship and the slander of people like David, the son of the famous Soviet filmmaker Alexei Germano filmed an absurdist allegory that shows that everyone is clear about what this is all about, but everyone like ostriches bury their heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is happening. as long as they are not directly touched. So even though David should have been fully aware of what was going to happen when he did what he did, he acts like he doesn’t want to take his situation seriously and buries himself deeper and deeper and nothing would have happened to him if he just kept quiet. However, he is clearly not one of those who can keep his mouth shut, and apart from the fact that he is clearly eaten up and horrified by this appalling corruption and total social apathy, it also seems that the whole situation is somewhat impressive to him and suits his huge ego.