For casual viewers (trigger warning: extreme alcoholism, psychological torture, self-harm), the film serves as a mirror. It reflects the quiet wars that happen in millions of kitchens, where the battlefield is a linoleum floor and the casualty is human dignity.
For film scholars, it is a radical experiment in the limits of performance art. It asks: If we remove the script, the safety words, and the fourth wall, can we capture true human despair? The answer is a resounding, terrifying "yes."
There is no score. Only the sound of a ticking clock, a dripping faucet, and the slosh of liquid in a glass. The silence is a weapon. You will not enjoy "DAU. Katya Tanya." That is the wrong verb. You will survive it. DAU. Katya Tanya
Radmila Shchegoleva reportedly lived as Katya for months. When you watch her gnash her teeth, foam at the mouth, and then weep with the trembling vulnerability of a child, you are not watching a technique. You are watching a human being who has forgotten where the camera is. Lidiya Shchegoleva, her real grandmother, does not act like a character. She acts like a grandmother who is genuinely terrified for her granddaughter’s soul.
The relationship between Katya and Tanya is not a narrative. It is a ritual. And by the final shot—Tanya alone at the table, Katya passed out in the bedroom, the camera slowly racking focus to a fly on a dirty plate—you realize there is no moral. There is only the loop. The DAU project has been accused of exploitation. It is rumored that during the filming of "DAU. Katya Tanya," boundary violations occurred that would shut down a Western production. Whether you believe the art justifies the means or rejects the project entirely, the film remains an unshakeable artifact. It asks: If we remove the script, the
(original title: Катина Таня or variations focusing on the two women) is the second film in the series released in 2020 via the DAU Cinema platform. Running approximately 100 minutes, it shifts focus from the male-dominated corridors of power (the institute) to the claustrophobic, floral-wallpapered purgatory of a shared apartment.
For those searching for , you are likely looking for the key to understanding the project’s emotional core. Here, we dissect the film’s plot, its terrifying performances, and why this specific chapter haunts viewers long after the credits roll. What is "DAU. Katya Tanya"? First, context is crucial. The DAU project, inspired by the life of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Lev Landau (nicknamed "Dau"), rebuilt a 1:1 scale Soviet research institute and communal apartment in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Non-professional actors lived in character for months. Cameras were hidden everywhere. There was no script—only "situations." The silence is a weapon
The inciting incident is banal: The scientist/husband leaves for a conference. Or does he? He simply disappears into the DAU universe’s other rooms, abandoning Katya to her demons.