- Vladimir Vladimirovich, why did you decide with Ivan this time to go to the homeland of Sherlock Holmes?
- This is my personal choice. I was captivated by English children's literature since childhood. Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Robin Hood is what I grew up, all this is my native, much I can tell you much for me. If I were asked to call the two greatest literature in the world, then, of course, it would be Russian literature and English. When we shot "One-story America" and then "Tour de France" about France, which I love and well know, everyone said around: "Let's do about Italy!", Everyone loves this Italy very much. And we removed. Then there was a "German puzzle", which was very difficult for me, because it was a personal story. And then I said to myself: let me please yourself and rent a film about England.
- You have noted your anniversary in Paris and called France by the country in which you are most comfortable. What, in your opinion, does it differ from England? How do the British belong to the French?
- They differ categorically in almost everything. These are two people who are connected all their life with each other. England won the French-Normans in 1066, for several centuries the English courtyard only spoke in French; In the XIV-XV century, England invaded France, took possession of half its territory, it was the so-called centenary war. These peoples competed forever, fought with each other, always envied each other. Competed in everything: Which university is an older, what country to consider the main thing in Europe, what monarch has more influence? .. England and France are not similar in anything. These are completely different nations. Different characters, different climates, Miscellaneous meals. Food is the most important part of the culture for the French. And wine. The British for this is a completely different attitude, very simple. And not wine, but beer. The British are much more stringent people, much less rampant. They are the islanders - less sociable, more closed, such "Japanese Europe", incomprehensible to everyone. The British are multi-layered, the French have fewer layers. They are easier to reach the essence. Someone said, and very accurately: "Still, the main feature of the Englishman is embarrassing." But these nations converge in one: they are not a single minute doubt that they are the best in the world. Only the Frenchman will tell you about it with the go. And the Englishman will be shy, embarrassing, it will be necessary to remove it from it. But they think about themselves.
This time, Vladimir Pozner and Ivan Urgant have chosen a mysterious UK for its autocouplement. .
- What, in your opinion, was this trip the most important?
- Probably what I did for myself a small discovery. The British are just now begin to think about who they are. For a long time they were the British, while all the vassals of this empire never forgot about who they are. Scots - that they are Scots, Welsh - that they are Welsh, Irish remembered that they are Irish. And the British became the British. But with the collapse of the Empire of the British, it did not become. After all, in fact England ... She is no longer the United Kingdom. Now the British remember and are looking for their past - the time they were the British. These are the times of Elizabeth first, the times of Shakespeare.
- What meetings in England would you call the most interesting?
- Probably one of the most interesting meetings was not even with someone, but with something. I got into the amazing beauty of the cathedral. This cathedral stores the "Great Charter of Valivity", one of the four original copies written from hand with royal seal. This document, which dates back to 1215, forces the king - in this case, John I - limit its powers. Today we would be such restrictions called democratic. This Charter is a history of democracy in its pure form. When I saw her, I had a feeling that I meet with an old acquaintance, with whom I have never met personally. This is such an unusual "meeting." If we talk about the interlocutors, then, perhaps, the most interesting was the amazing English writer Stephen Fry.
"I love to be among something that is calculated by the centuries." .
- What is your favorite place in England?
- London, of course. Because of this film, when I was a lot in London at work, I loved him very much. London is a lot of small cities that have merged into one huge. I love to be among something that is calculated by the centuries. I adore Westminster Abbey. London parks with thick lawns are incomparable, for which it is not just not forbidden to walk: people go on them, rest, suite picnics ... I always knew that the British were very restrained and delicate. But what struck me: we shot one of the scenes of the film in the park, people were sitting around us and sunk. And I also spread the blankets, got on them, we have a camera, shooting goes. In any city of the world around the crowd zawak. And in London, no one fell. That is, of course, they were curious, but the British are considered indecent, ignorant invade someone else's private space.
- Please describe a typical Englishman, in your opinion. Who would you call a typical Englishman?
- Perhaps, this is Churchill: the striking sense of humor, stubbornness, cunning, courage, a little alone, confidence in its superiority ... Although, you know, as soon as you begin to describe the "typical" of this or that, something flat, banal, is obtained.
"One of the scenes of the film We were filmed in the park, people were sitting around us and sunk. And I also spread the blankets, got on them, we have a camera, shooting goes. In any city of the world around the crowd zawak. And in London, no one man came up. " Photo: M.
- What do you think, TV viewers learn something new about England from this movie?
- Yes, of course, just do not ask me what exactly. The goal of all my films is to open a country and people in her living, our audience. An attempt to convey the spirit, the essence of this country. I do not remove tourist films. I think that the audience learned a lot for themselves new and unexpected.