#Katya Goncharova

[stephen9260]

Happy one fifty years to the best movie of all time

[chaos-has-theories]

Since it's the anniversary of the Goncharov Renaissance, there's something I've been sitting on for a while:

We've all discussed Katya's last name to bits (does she have one? Which is it? Feminine form or masculine form? Why?) but the thing that intrigues me is her first name.

See, Katya is a diminutive of the Russian for of Catherine. And Catherine -

Which is pretty obvious, what with the way Scorsese writes women, and most of Katya's costumes. It IS interesting to look at how far it applies: How Goncharov tries to keep her away from all the dangerous business. How that's why she's so cut off from his life, how she both tries to free herself from that AND struggles to keep her pristine image alive. How no matter what, her white fur coat ends up spattered with blood.

But what's way more interesting to me is -

because oooooooughhh. "Each of the two", in a movie that is so FUNDAMENTALLY about the clash of two cultures. Katya, whose last name ia in question because it's unclear whether she sees herself more as belonging to her husband's or her brother's family. Whether she wants to be proud of her Russian identity or adjust to Italian mores. Katya, who TO ME is making the most important choice of anyone in the movie, having to pick (essentially - I know it's more complicated than that) between Goncharov and Sophia.

(Katya who is BISEXUAL. Each of the two gsfagagdfaghs get it yeah yeah just kidding UNLESS...)

But like. Hecate is the goddess of crossroads and borders (the way Katya is often framed as literally the point dividing opposing concepts). She's the goddess of witchcraft, and the henchmen totally call her a witch (sure yes misogyny blah blah).

She's also a chthonic deity, which MIGHT be a stretch to call important in a movie where pretty much everyone has blood on their hands, but this + goddess of the moon has my EARS PERKED at the boat scene.

the framing......... the clear moon not yet full. Katya the only other bright spot. And the psychopomp vibes of there being a boat and a dying person and one who's ferrying them onwards..... yeagh

But if none of that convinces you, take a look at this:

this is from that conversation she has with Andrey where every goddamn sentence has at least two meanings.

And yeah. She's reflected twice in the shop window behind her. She's literally being triple-bodied Hecate. Getting the glass panes and the cameras lined up for that must have been a right pain.

I do think that's a pretty good hint that this parallel? It's intentional.

[lesbianpoetess]

lets go, lesbians!

[mildlyinterestedcreature]

WLW Ships Poll Round 1 Part 10

Katya x Sofia (L) Maggie x Nina (R)

[bedpolls]

Katya from Goncharov

Please reblog for a larger sample size.

[drkatz]

Katya is so gay its not even funny. Her entire arc is around leaning on her "business partner" Sofia to get through the events of the movie.

Through Sofia she realizes that being with Goncharov isnt what she truly wants and breaks it off with him.

She starts with feeling a sense of duty to her husband and his criminal empire.

However as the movie progresses she realizes that the materialism she was wrapped in was a distraction for internal strife about what she really wants. Like that same scene in the club this is her look towards Sofia after that realization moment

Theres that infamous cigarette scene, like ive never seen a woman light another woman's cigarette with such tension and the lighting and moment felt like this was an intimate moment and Katya gasps and puffs as if it was the aftermath of a sex scene.

Her last scene is going on a train with Sofia to Paris. Which judging by the score and their smiles is meant to be seen as a happy ending for her character.

Theres so much more, gay subtext that might as well be just text. Her story is a gay awakening story of empowerment!

[variouspolltournaments]

Anti-Propaganda is not allowed. Please only give reasons to vote for something and not give reasons to vote against something.

[whosafraidoftheladyeve]

very quick and ugly sketch but katyaaaaa ily. i hope everyone is having a very happy (late) gonchaversary!

[justiceforplutoo]

a/n: I realized half-way through that this is less of an interpretation of canon, but more of an interpretation of an interpretation of canon. so, like, take this with a grain of salt? also this has slight nsfw (the characters connect sexual intercourse with gun violence and I wanted to examine that)

I'm sure that someone's said this before, but for me, the "his wife has filled the house with chintz" quote from Tumblr and the "of course I love you. I tried to shoot you" quote from Goncharov (1973) have the same energy.

His wife has filled the house with chintz. To keep it real, I fuck him on the floor.

In this reblog of "his wife", @headspace-hotel points out the contrast between the connotation here of chintz as something fake and flimsy and the idea of "fuck[ing] on the floor" as carnal and real.

The illicit encounter in the poem takes place within a house filled with facade, the flimsy construction of the wife’s marriage and domestic sphere, but the encounter itself is a taste of something “real.”

KATYA: Of course we're in love. That's why I tried to shoot you. GONCHAROV: If we were really in love, you wouldn’t have missed.

I really like this interpretation of Katya's death scene, written by @frstcorinthians. The way I read it, it feels like she says, "Of course we're in love," almost sarcastically, or even mockingly.

I'd like to point out that Katya only shoots at Goncharov because he shot at her first. "Katya is a good shot. Almost perfect, even. But now, the bullet goes wide; she sees it skim past Goncharov’s temple. They're one for one." In this violence/love metaphor I'm using here... Katya can love. She loves brilliantly. But for Goncharov, she misses (can't reciprocate). It's clearly different for Goncharov. He explicitly says (in canon!), "If we were really in love, you wouldn't have missed," before shooting her in the neck. A perfect shot.

I think that Katya engages in relationship with Goncharov because she wants to prove that they are equals. One for one - you shoot me, I shoot you - you love me, I love you. But Goncharov really does love Katya; likewise, he really does shoot her.

I feel like Katya is taking Goncharov's love (house) and turning it into a game (filling it with chintz).

I also want to bring this quote (from the fic) to focus:

She doesn’t feel the bullet go into her, not really. All she feels is a vague sense of warmth in the juncture of her neck and shoulder and the exchange of the bullet’s motion pushed into her body. Not so different from sex, then. Here, as there, she goes with the force Goncharov enters into her, relaxed.

So, with the idea that the bullet is some sort of metaphor for penetration, and then we know that Katya doesn't really feel the energy of that bullet versus...

He feels Andrey’s hands around his shoulder as he eases him down to the ground. In his final moments, he thinks he feels Andrey’s thumb stroke gently across his shoulder. Maybe it’s his dying mind’s attempts to self-preserve, a flashback to the night before Goncharov’s wedding, when Andrey’s thumb made the same motion in their post-coital bliss.

... this connection of the intimacy between Andrey and Goncharov? Katya doesn't seem to feel this intimacy, but Goncharov seems to feel it about Andrey. When Katya compares the bullet to penetration, it's because she thinks that both are insignificant.

Goncharov doesn't compare the act of killing to intercourse, instead he compares the intimacy of betrayal and intercourse. Andrey's betrayal feels intimate to Goncharov. It feels real.

So if Katya is filling the house with chintz by not reciprocating Goncharov's love/bullet, Andrey is keeping it real by fucking him (stabbing him) on the floor (the bridge).

[lilolilyr]

Katya Michailov x Sofia Modigliani (Goncharov, 1973)

[dumbassotd]

scarlett johansson playing katya in the 50th anniversary Goncharov remake was not on my 2023 bingo card but i am SO excited.

[calico-fiish]

It’s Gonchin’ time

[mildlyinterestedcreature]

WLW Ship Polls Round 2 Part 5

Vastra x Jenny (L) Katya x Sofia (R)

[ricky-yaps]

Katya Goncharova (nobody talks about Goncharov anymore but it’s literally my Roman Empire i love Cybill Shepherd sm)

[julie135]

[variouspolltournaments]