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."
Khrzhanovsky famously filmed his actors for years, pushing them through real physical and emotional duress to achieve "authentic" reactions. In Katya Tanya , you are not watching acting; you are watching endurance. When Tanya forces Katya to a specific, deeply degrading act (the film’s infamous climax involving a Christmas tree decoration), Katya’s tears are real. Her breakdown is not performed. You become an accomplice simply by watching. DAU. Katya Tanya