- Title: 'This is my world': Russia's top Barbie fan sees herself in hit movie
- Date: 25th August 2023
- Summary: KRASNOGORSK, RUSSIA (AUGUST 16, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BARBIE DOLLS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "You could say I started collecting (Barbie dolls) immediately (after I got my first one). My family wasn't rich and we didn't have much money. I bought my second Barbie doll two years later: then Ken and a Barbie house. Until I was 12 years old, I only had two dolls." TUZOVA HOLDING HER FIRST BARBIE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "Ten years ago, I already had 200 dolls in my collection. Then the collection grew to 1,500 dolls, and now I have 12,000 dolls." COUCH IN TUZOVA'S APARTMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "I think Barbie is a role model. Her slogan is: "You can be anyone want to be". Looking at her I understood that I could be anyone, as well. I used to have nothing: my parents were musicians and my father died when I was six months old. My mother worked as a music teacher for a small salary in a kindergarten; my grandmother also worked, but you can't earn much money if you are a musician." BARBIE DOLLS COLLECTION (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "And I just decided that I would have everything! And that everything would be pink. (LAUGHS) I started studying a lot. Initially, it was because my parents wanted it. I first studied to be a piano teacher and then I studied public relations, because I wanted to do it myself." BARBIE DOLLS COLLECTION (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "Importing Barbie dolls into Russia has been banned since this year March. But I know that it is still possible due to third countries (ed. note: particularly through CIS countries). Not so long ago, I went to Detsky Mir (ed. note: "Children's World" - a Russian children's retailer) and my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw the prices: Barbie costs three times as much as before this situation. You can't find them in ordinary children's shops - everything they have now is leftover stock that is being sold at inflated prices." (WHITE FLASH) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "I've started collecting Barbie dolls in Dubai. I already have a collection of 200 items. When it all started (Russia's military intervention in Ukraine), we decided to buy a flat there. That's why all dolls are now moving there - I buy them in a children's shop in Dubai or just order them in from America, to my Dubai address." BARBIE DOLLS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "I always try to buy dolls in boxes because they are the most expensive that way and are worth more, just like a new car, any new thing, a new dress. A secondhand dress is always worth less than a new one. So, a doll in a box goes for 100 percent of its original price. Even if someone just takes away the doll from its box and puts it back - it reduces the price by 20 percent. And if a Barbie is sold without its box - it may be worth 30 percent of its original price. So, the price (for a Barbie doll) is dictated by its box. Sometimes it happens that a box is worth more than the doll itself." TUZOVA HOLDING ADVERTISING LEAFLETS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "I have already watched the pirate version of the film. I didn't want to watch it (that way) but I was just mobbed with questions (about the film by media outlets). I had to understand what I could talk about when giving interviews. Of course, I will attend the premiere, (which will have) decent dubbing. I don't think things are being done very officially: cinemas are waiting for some special permission, otherwise the premiere would have already been held." (WHITE FLASH) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "Of course, I'm glad that more pink has appeared in the world - our bloggers are colouring their cars pink, people are putting on more pink clothes - it's really nice. But I don't mind that there are not so many (Barbie) movie posters out there." BARBIE DOLLS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) BARBIE DOLL COLLECTOR, TATIANA TUZOVA, SAYING: "A woman called Bettina Dorfmann has 18,000 dolls in her collection - she is the world record holder. I went to visit her - she lives in Germany. And I even bought 200 dolls from her for my collection. Some of them are here in this room." VARIOUS OF BARBIE DOLLS FROM TUZOVA'S COLLECTION PORTRAIT OF TUZOVA HANGING ON WALL
- Embargoed: 8th September 2023 14:17
- Keywords: BARBENHEIMER BARBIE COLLECTOR FILM GRETA GERWIG MOVIE OPPENHEIMER RUSSIA SANCTIONS UKRAINE
- Location: KRASNOGORSK, RUSSIA / WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- City: KRASNOGORSK, RUSSIA / WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA001584521082023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As the proud owner of 12,000 Barbie dolls, Russian collector Tatiana Tuzova was more excited than most to watch the Hollywood movie based on her idol. She was not disappointed.
Like the character played by Margot Robbie in the film, Tuzova inhabits both a fantasy realm of beautiful dolls and a real world where things are far less perfect. Of the two, she prefers the first, depicted in the movie as Barbie Land.
"To some extent, this is my world as well. And I even recognized myself in the film character a little bit, because I also feel sad when I come back to grey reality," she told Reuters. "I want everything in the real world to be as bright, beautiful and glamorous (as Barbie Land). But when you're out in the real world, there are so many things missing."
Hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine, Russia is coming late to the Barbie party. The film is not available for official distribution, but some cinemas plan to get around that by screening a digital copy of it "for free" as part of a double bill with a shorter film in Russian.
Tuzova has supplied 300 of her dolls to go on show at an unofficial premiere of the film in Moscow on Sept. 9. She said she had hoped to see it for the first time on the big screen, but reluctantly watched a pirate version to satisfy media requests for her reaction.
Her obsession with Barbie began in childhood: "I think Barbie is a role model. Her slogan is 'You can be anything'. I looked at her and understood that I could be anything as well," she said in an interview in her apartment, dressed all in pink with an enormous bow in her hair.
Behind her, an entire wall was filled with hundreds of Barbies, from Army and Air Force to Party Time and Pretty Flower - all in their original boxes to preserve their value.
Tuzova said her father died when she was six months old and she had "nothing" as a child: "And I decided that I would have everything. And everything will be pink."
She said she liked the fact that the Barbie heroine of the film remained true to herself even when she crossed into the real world.
"She remained herself: she didn't put on weight, didn't dye her hair brunette. She just adapted, let's say, to the real world - as, in general, I did."
* This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None