By Yulia Osym
At the beginning of our meeting, I immediately said to Ms. Natalia: «I was impressed by your novel, and while I read the last pages, I couldn’t hold back my tears.» The author of «Coffee Melody in Cardamom Tone» answered me: «You may not believe it, but even I wrote and cried because I passed it all through myself.»
On 20 December, a multi-series film adaptation of a book about the forbidden love of a Ukrainian woman with a Polish nobleman in Lviv in the 19th century was released in Ukrainian on Ukraine’s Telekanal STB network. The author was inspired to write the novel by memoirs about the complicated love story of Andrei Sheptytsky’s grandparents, Sofia Yablon‹ska and Alexander Fredro, even though, of course, you will read a completely different story in the book. Lviv writer and author of the book Natalia Hurnytska told Lviv Now about the mysticism in the novel and the film, the historical parallels and characters.
About whom is this story of forbidden love in reality?
«My novel is three hobbies in one, because I love Lviv, reading and history, especially the XIX century. I wrote what I lacked in Ukrainian literature. There are many things in the book about my family, including the names of the characters and the area. For example, my family lived on the street Krakivska, just like my heroine. But the discovery for me was a difficult story of forbidden love of Andrei Sheptytsky’s grandparents – Sofia Yablonska and Alexander Fredro.
Stanislav Skarbek, then the builder of the current Maria Zankovetska Theater, married Sofia when she was 15, though he was much older and quite adventurous. The affair of Sheptytskyi’s grandmother with the officer Alexander Fredro began vaudeville – Skarbek bet with the nobleman that the latter wouldn’t seduce his wife. As a result, this pair has grown into a real feeling, but it took Sofia Yablonska 10 years to break up with Stanislav and legalize her relationship with Alexander. The motives in the book are told differently. I decided that out of respect for Andrei Sheptytsky’s grandparents, I would leave their love with its secrets to them. But the story is good, and I was carried away.»
Did Anna and Adam live in reality?
«In fact, Alexander Fredro is not a prototype of Adam. He was quite specific in his expressions and interests, ruthless in everyday life. In general, it seems to me that the heroes of the novel really lived. My grandfather and father were antiquarians, so the image of Adam is an associative collective image of the features of my grandfather, father, and even my husband a little – in general, [Adam was] a man of that era. As for Anna, many say they see me in her character. Although, as an author, I am present in every character. Annela is extremely close to me, and in Teresa I see my grandmother with her patriarchy and ability to resolve conflicts. All these memories, emotions, memoirs poured into the book. Everything is a bit mystical – even when I didn’t know something, I still wrote. And then I learned that it really was so, the heroes lived their lives.»
The heroine in the pages of the book is changing dramatically. Didn’t you think to make Anna different?
«In good literature, a character cannot be static, he must evolve. Honestly, it was difficult for me to create such a young girl, because I understood that somewhere she was a fool, but if she had not been so young and sincerely in love, this story would not have happened. In addition, she did not have a father, her brother lived in Lviv, and they married her to someone she did not love. Anna was looking for a man she could count on. And then, a confident man came, who paid attention to her. It is clear that she felt dizzy. Maybe, Anna is annoying someone, but I had to do it like that, to show the psychological moments why she fell in love with Adam, and why he had an attraction to the young heroine. In the second and third (I’m writing it now) parts of the novel, Anna is different. By the way, in the third part, I talk more about why Adam’s life turned out this way.»
How did you react to the offer to screen the book?
«It was as much of a miracle as publishing a book. Although the proposal to film the novel was not the first, but coincidences, probably, do not happen. It fell into the hands of actress Olena Lavrenyuk, who passed it on to acquaintances and colleagues. And from this, they began to make movies. When I met Olena, I saw Anna in her, although at first she wanted to play Annela. Then, after filming, she admitted that she felt like she had lived with Anna all her life, which is rare. It is also interesting that no one can still explain why «Coffee with Cardamom» was chosen for screening. Sometimes it seems that someone from above is sitting and watching that everything works out.
By the way, the mystic is present not only in the book, but also in the series. The film crew traveled all over Western Ukraine to find a palace similar to the one where the heroes lived. And they did find the abandoned Fredro-Sheptytskykh palace in the village of Vyshnya in the Lviv region. It can be said that this is the property of the prototypes of this novel, and the film was shot where the forbidden love of Andrei Sheptytsky’s grandparents once took place.»
As an author, did you have a decisive voice in the selection of actors?
«Of course, how would someone prevent me from being involved (laughs). From the beginning of the idea, Olena Lavreniuk and I went through the process. We discussed not only the characters, but also all the details, I edited the dialogues. It was no longer a separate project, but life itself. In the serial, it’s a bit different than in my novel, but I understand why. The cinema has its own laws, although there are few deviations. As an author, I like everything that happens like in my book. I’m thrilled to hear my dialogues being spoken, for example, when Pavlo, Anna’s uncle, exclaims a bunch of Galician words «shliak by tebe trafyv, a ty mantelepo frantsuvata» («A hit would meet you, you’re a foolish little girl»), I feel so good when hearing this (laughs). I really wanted it to be a living language, and for the most part it is.»
Are you happy with Adam’s performance by Pavel Delong?
«He played well, although Anna, in my opinion, is more of a hit. Adam doesn’t seem bad, but he seems not to be the one. In the series, he is stable, and in the novel – more dynamic. By the way, actor Pavel Delong is very talented. In general, there are many Polish actors in the series, and when they talk, sometimes almost the whole series, you need to duplicate everything they say. Then, the language is lost a little, but they could not do otherwise.»
Which of the actors surprised you with their play, or maybe surpassed their character in the book?
«I just admire and like Pavlo. He is a controversial hero – so colorful, beautiful, sometimes funny, and sometimes serious. I really like how they play in pairs with their wife. Andrew, who plays a film of a revolutionary and a future priest, is equally impressive, he also has romantic feelings. And the heroine who falls in love with him is good. If I had been given the freedom, I would have written them down similarly and brought them together. Interestingly, I wrote a novel larger than 200 pages. But I was told that no one would publish such a great novel. Then I rewrote almost the whole novel – I took away Anna’s friends, changed Andrew’s line, in particular, shortened the dialogues, rewrote the events... And see how interesting it was – in the series, it all was returned. It turned out organically.»
Ms. Natalia, why the end is such? And does the series end in the same way?
«The happiness that Anna and Adam have is the maximum I could give them. In real life, it might not be, but I loved them too much. By the way, when I started writing the book, I first wrote the end of it. There are laws of the universe that can be grasped and cannot be deceived. I knew it would happen, and the heroes went for it themselves. In my opinion, this is a happy ending. Because what awaited them? He is older, he becomes jealous, and she is no longer the girl, she can still go through a lot. As an author, I wanted the heroine to develop. The film ends a little differently. At one point I was sad, but it’s definitely not what readers think. This is new in the script, which is not in the book.»
As I read the book, I laughed and cried. I wonder how you felt?
«It seems to me that both Anna and Adam lived with me. I generally wrote and cried. Even when Anna gave birth, I had a feeling it was real. It was 5:00 at night, but I finished this chapter because I couldn’t leave the birth process in the middle. This must be passed through, felt so that the reader understands, feels and sees. Even when it wasn’t about making a movie, everyone said they saw movies while reading.»
For reference
«Coffee with Cardamom» is a dramatic story of the forbidden love of a Ukrainian woman with a Polish nobleman, which takes place in Lviv in the XIX century, during the «Spring of Nations» [revolution of 1848 in the Austrian empire]. The 10-episode series is based on the novel by Lviv writer Natalia Gurnytska «Coffee Melody in Cardamom Tone». The film was directed by Irina Hromozda. Locations for filming were chosen in Lviv, Zhovkva, Vyshnya and Kyiv. The main characters of the film were Polish actor Pavel Delong and Ukrainian actress Olena Lavreniuk.
The series «Coffee with Cardamom» was shot in one of the largest pavilions in Ukraine – on the territory of the National Film Studio named after Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The huge 1650 square metres site contained 12 rooms, each with at least one change of scenery and conversion. More than a thousand costumes were sewn especially for the project, which reflect the spirit of that era.
The book «Coffee Melody in Cardamom Tone» was published in 2014 and is the first part of the trilogy. The second part of «Melody of coffee in the tone of hope» became a continuation. Currently, the author Natalia Gurnytska is working on the third part of the novel.
Yulia Osym
Translated by Vitalii Holich
You can read a Ukrainian language version of this story here.
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