Wherever they appear, there's always agitation.
Riga, end of May. The singing duo t.A.T.u. shall provide the necessary excitement for the Eurovision Song Contest. The allegedly lesbian duo provided above all plenty of speculation: how hot will their show be? The world seems to have been waiting anxiously for the two 18-year-old-girls Lolita-phenomenon.
Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova take the imminent performance very seriously and put a lot of effort in rehearsing their song - secretly, in the Riga Hotel's club. Cameras are not desired. Alledgedly, they disturb the girls' concentration.
Lena: I can't do it!...
Ivan: I asked you, and you don't understand! PLEASE, STOP FILMING!
Beata (I think): Please, wait outside.
[ATTS video is shown]
Normally the girls aren't known for being shy in public. With their song "All The Things She Said", they stormed the charts worldwide. In Yulia and Lena's case, they didn't make it exactly for a special singing talent: their symbol is the lesbian act. A strict calculated tabu-breaking designed to cover grasping fantasies and turn itself into money.
The calculation of the management works perfectly.
Appart from the world of appearances of staged concerts and videoclips, the girls present themselves pretty normal.
Moscow, two days before the Eurovision Song Contest. Yulia says goodbye to mom and dad.
Yulia (pointing): That's my dad and that's my mom.
Yulia (talking on the phone): 'Later!... Kisses!
Yulia's father: I know that they'll win. I already told them: if they don't win the 1st place, they better not come back! (laughs)
Beata: It's not important, which place...
Yulia's father: The most important is that they're participating.
Beata: We're driving Yulia to the center [of Moscow], and then we're gonna pick up Lena.
Yulia: There's a lot of traffic everywhere. We can switch cars and then you can make an interview, no problem.
Fame follows its tribute. Since t.A.T.u. achieved top success, they have very busy schedules. The girls are not used to life on the road yet. Trips to foreign countries still make them nervous.
[Lena leaving her building]
Lena: I'm not even away yet and already wanna come back!...
For in Moscow the girls belong together with the big stars, in the meanwhile.
Fan: They're absolutely the best. TATU - One, Two!
Fan [asking Lena]: Can I have an autograph? On my arm? Please! I beg you. Please! I have a pen myself.
[Lena looks really bored and impatient]
Fan [asking Lena]: On my arm, please, if it's ok...
Lena [impatient]: ...Yes, it's ok!
Fan: Oh thank you!
Fan: The girls are absolutely awesome. I go crazy when I see their videos. Really.
I went already to thousands of concerts, I'm not exagerating. Also to one concert from them.
Fan: I was also in England!
Lena: There were no concerts in England.
Fan: But you study in England. That's what I heard, like a thousand times.
Speculations, rumors and wild fantasies are part of the marketing concept of the nympho-duo.
Riga is the next step on their way to an international career. Before the depart, there's still time to go to a restaurant.
Yulia: We ordered something to eat. They should bring it quickly.
Beata: We're going to eat, and after that we leave right away. Is that clear?
Lena: I thought we had to leave right now!...
Also for Yulia's father things have changed. Surprising discoveries about the sexual life of his daughter are not taken seriously by him. He takes it as what it probably just is: everything just for show!
Oleg Volkova: I see it in a positive way. It's show-business, like in theater or cinema. It's a staged presentation. Without that, it wouldn't work. Therefore, I have a calm attitude towards the situation.
Interviewer: Are you proud of the girls?
Lena: Proud? Look at us! How can anyone be proud of us?!...
[Yulia is shown playing the piano when she was younger, in 1999]
In that time, Yulia was a school girl with nothing of the unrestrained homosexual behaviour that she shows in public today.
[Lena and Yulia are shown singing in a chorus]
Also Lena's first musical experience in the school chorus, about 6 years ago, was both musically and sexually much less exciting/arousing than their videoclip than led them to be a super-hit.
A girl who was in Lena's class doesn't recall any sort of impulsive behaviour coming from Lena. Nasdja is 18, just like her classmate, and still friends with Lena. She keeps poetry albums and other things from all the time they have been spending together since they were kids.
Nasdja: Here is an album that we made in the 9th grade. We eternalized each other. We wrote something dedicated to each one of us and added photos.
[Photo of Lena holding hands with a boy]
Lena surrounded by a male going through puberty. Something that the authors of t.A.T.u. wouldn't like to be seen. It takes a lot of effort to believe in the lesben-legend when in Lena's intimate circle of friends.
Here, in her room, Nasdja shows the gifts that are proof of Lena's friendship.
Nasdja: Lena gave me the this blanket as a gift. Yeah! When you walk around the flat, half of it it's presents! (laughs) Here, this plate was given to me by her. And also this crystal ball.
Nasdja: I can understand lesbians well. I don't know why, but I can accept it. Girls in love with girls... What's the big deal? Girls, they're not so... They're more understanding, not so rude and rough like men. Men, I don't know... I always end up having problems with them.
[t.A.T.u. concert is shown]
The mixture of lesbian and lolita sex works perfectly with the audience.
Yulia: Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on!
[Two guys kiss on the stage]
Yulia: Who's the next to take their clothes off? We've already done it, now it's your turn!
[Yulia uncovers some girls' boobs]
Yulia: Oooooopppppaaaaaa! (LOL, this always reminds me of that movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding -staringelf)
Scenes of a performance of the duo in a club in Moscow. The short form t.A.T.u. stands for "she loves her" in russian.
Fan: I love them!
The first t.A.T.u. single was #1 for four and a half months in Russia. The people who bought it weren't dirty old men, but teenagers in "BRAVO-age".
Yulia [in restaurant]: We don't care about rules. The others should adapt themselves to us. If they don't want to, then - Goodbye! We're not gonna let anyone intimidate us, and we don't have anything to lose.
We didn't want to participate in Eurovision, we think it's boring, a staged show for kids. We've already conquered America and Europe anyway. It doesn't matter what place we get on the contest. We already made an impact in the world without it. We're only going to Eurovision because our country has asked us. And when Moscow is calling for us, then we do that for our country.
And then it's time to leave Moscow and travel to Riga. A trip on the night train. There's no explanation from the management, if there were two beds booked for the performers or only one.
[Ivan is fooling around with Beata and some friends at the train station]
The child psychiatrist and advertising man, Ivan Shapovalov, is not only the manager of t.A.T.u., he also invented them, created and improved the lolita-lesbian act. In this moment there's no worry if the lucrative train leaves without him: Shapovalov is into audacious show effects - agressive marketing, that's what he calls it.
[Nas Ne Dogonyat video shown]
Shapovalov's artistic criatures have achieved their international breakthrough. They were spotted in a casting in 1999, where the purpose was to create a girl duo. If you look at it like that, t.A.T.u. are kind of like a russian version of No Angels (famous german pop band who was selected from a casting show).
[Lena getting out of the train in Riga]
Arrival in Riga. Still 2 days before the big performance at the Eurovision Song Contest. The excitement is huge, just like the trust in their victory. The fact that t.A.T.u. could give a scandalous performance has gathered all the attention and curiosity.
[In hotel room with Ivan]
The lesbo-pop is not just lucrative. The manager likes to emphasize that it is mainly all about the message. And of course he knows what it is, and why people so desperately need it.
Ivan: t.A.T.u. is the only project worldwide that clearly proves that friendship equals love. Do you understand? Friendship equals love. That's a very important message, and humanity needs it. Not sex is love, but friendship! In t.A.T.u. it's about a relationship between girls where the border is broken, and that makes love more noticeable. It's more or less friendship in its most pure form.
That's what people are lacking; the world has waited for that. That's what made t.A.T.u. famous. Not some labels or promos. People just simply need that kind of message.
The world 'love' was faked and misused, do you understand?
[Video Prostie Dvizhenja is shown, Yulia masturbating in the bathtub]
With this video, he probably wanted to share how the most pure emotions are developped in the bathtub. Also here the line is crossed.
[Ivan in the bathroom]
Behind all this, there's naturally a philosophical thesis from Mr. Ivan Shapovalov...
Ivan: There in the bathtub was Yulia, and here was where the camera was placed.
She also found it interesting, we had to shoot closing the frame like a portrait.
It's very interesting to see a person's face when they are masturbating. They stop playing a role, they are truthful and open themselves up. That's pretty.
Interviewer: And how did you have this idea?
Ivan: How?... Well... I just paid attention, and one day it just came to my mind... And I thought it would be exciting and beautiful. (laughs)
First the work, then the pleasure. The stage in Riga is used strategically to amplify the duo's international fame. The business of provocation at any cost has just started.
Appearance by both teenagers in the middle of a very grateful group of journalists. The two unusual girls seem to be putting a stop to the usual Eurovision boredom.
[Yulia and Lena are at a party at the Russian Embassy]
Yulia: Thanks to all for coming. ...And now move out of the way!
(all laugh)
Lena: Appreciate the nature... The fresh air... And your cameras!...
Some guy: We would like to give a platinum award to t.A.T.u. for more than 15,000 copies sold of their first single "All The Things She Said"
But the opinions are divided. Not everyone likes t.A.T.u.'s behaviour.
Old Gross Guy at the Embassy: I don't really appreciate that sort of behaviour. Honestly, I really don't like it at all! But I guess that they're totally different privately, all the rest is just show for the audience. That's my opinion.
[t.A.T.u. rehearsal is shown]
So that everything works out, the girls rehearse until the last minute.
[Yulia doesn't sing; some journalists clapped, others booed them]
But something is wrong. Manager Ivan is nervous.
Ivan: Yulia didn't sing...
Interviewer: What does that mean?
Ivan: Nothing... Nothing...
[Ivan dancing to a cheezy song]
Yulia: I don't want to answer any questions. I'm not ready for that. I'm not ready for that.
Instead, we are authorized to have an interview in the hotel room. Just a few questions, and short ones. The atmosphere is tense.
Ivan: Wait a second. (talking to Yulia What's the problem?
Yulia: I was outside for an interview, and this pervert started filming me while I was showing my tattoos.
Ivan: You have five minutes. Five minutes. [for the interview]
Yulia: Simply t.A.T.u.
Interviewer: Do you really have tattoos?
Yulia: Yeah! Sure!
Interviewer: How many?
Yulia: (laughs) Two!
Interviewer: Can you show them?
Yulia: Yeah, sure! One of them is on a place where you can clearly see it; with the other one it's a little bit harder. Lena, pull my sweater.
Interviewer: What do they mean?
Yulia: The first one means strong eternal love
Interviewer: And why?
Yulia: I don't know, I just liked it
Lena: We chose it with Vanya. First, she chose the symbol, and then she was told what it meant.
Ivan: Yes... That stands for Love in arabic.
Interviewer: What was the most unpleasant question you have ever been asked?
Yulia: If it's true if we're lesbians, if we sleep together
(Yulia and Lena start laughing)
Interviewer: Why is that so unpleasant for you?
Yulia: That's nobody's business
Interviewer: But isn't that your image?
Yulia: Yeah, but still, I think our private life only concerns us. There's our songs and our concerts, people should be interested in that instead. Not in our free time or how we live...
Lena: You can live any way you want to...
Interviewer: Tomorrow is the the big day. How are you going to feel?
Yulia: We're gonna be #1.
Interviewer: Why?
Yulia: I just strongly believe in it. Why should we be afraid? Of whom?
Lena: Ne ver', ne boisja, ne prosi!...
Yulia: It's pretty easy: just go there and sing!...
Ivan: Thank you, girls. The interview is over.
The girls play the game of tabu-breaking very good. Now through a pseudo-indignation towards the alledgedly impertinent questions from the reporters.
[t.A.T.u.'s performance at Eurovision shown]
Then, the big appearance. No sex games or other shock elements in the stageshow of the two pop-lolitas. The girls present themselves with unsual discretion. For many observers, the disappointment of the night.
[At Lena's house]
In Moscow, Lena's whole family gathered in her house in front of the TV.
Lena's mom (point at the TV screen): She's shaking, she's shaking!
All share the moment and hope that t.A.T.u. will win.
Katja (Lena's sister): I wish them luck!
Mother Inna and sister Katja saw the performance with a mixture of feelings. They're part of the few viewers who can understand from own knowledge that this time the soft porno performance from the girls is really unusally soft. No kissing on stage, no wet t-shirts, or other naughty things.
[The performance is over, everybody claps at home]
Lena's mother: Nothing can describe what we went through right now...
Katja (Lena's sister): ...Stress!...
Ljudmilla (Lena's grandmother; showing a picture of Lena very young): we still have photos from the 1st grade. Mr. Shapovalov took all the other photos away.
The famous sister is only at home from time to time. Her room is now used in another way.
[Katja shows Lenas room; you can see shelves with lots of religious items]
Katja: Now my great grandmother lives here.
And the great grandmother doesn't have to worry about being confrontated with intimate surprises: the collectable inheritances left are typical for her age (Lena's age).
[Pictures and posters of guys are shown]
Katja: Lena's favourite toys are here. The teddybear with which she always sleeps.. The one she took with her everywhere she went...
Interviewer: In the group it's said that the girls are in love with each other. Is that the truth?
Katja: No. They're not lesbians. They're not real lesbians. That's just a role they play.
But maybe I just shared a secret?!...
Interviewer: And are they friends, privately?
Katja: Yeah, well, of course they have their fights... But saying that they're best friends, that would be exagerating. Lena has another best friend, and for my taste a much better one...
Interviewer: And do they spend their free time together?
Katja: What? With Yulia?... No.
Lena's family: to the victory of t.A.T.u.! to the victory of Russia!
Ljudmilla: Actually, it's not a material victory. They don't get anything. Look at it, they're famous in the whole world. They have the CDs [I think she's talking about the platinum CDs they were given]... They even gave them a CD worth in dollars! And do you think Lena can buy a car or an appartment? No! She can't do any of that. We don't know about anything. A lawyer was hired to do some research.
[Hotel room, Riga]
That could be very interesting. In the meanwhile, the performers relax and recover from their performance at Eurovision. In Riga they came in as favorites. Until now, they did everything the management expected and proved to be a good investment.
Darryl Franklin (interscope): They are the biggest international band in the japanese market in the last 25 years. They are number 3 in the japanese LP-Charts [of the most sold records in the last 25 years!]. If you think of how many artists have released albums in Japan in the last 25 years!... Besides that, that have #1 hits in many, many countries.
Interviewer: What do you expect for the future?
Darryl Franklin (interscope): I wanna hear the next record. I'd like to see how they evolve and become great artists.
In the end, a surprise: not t.A.T.u. win Eurovision, but Sertab Erener from Turkey,
without recurring to any pseudo-scandals. Russian TV Chanel contests the results - it couldn't be right that t.A.T.u. just won 3rd place.
That wouldn't harm the success of the duo - the biggest scandal is still about to happen: somewhen, Lena and Yulia will reveal that they are not really lesbians. Wanna bet?... |
