and listen. i get why people try to pick one side or the other but “katya as a character exists for andrey and goncharov to project their homoerotic tension onto an ‘acceptable’ female interest” and “katya is a character in her own right with her own ambitions, attempting to take full advantage of her station as a woman during the time period by using the her connections with both the men fighting for her ‘love’ as well as her own family” are both true, actually. both can be true simultaneously! you wouldn’t villainize a person in a fuckin mafia movie shooting someone just because its a facet of the genre. characters and themes can be both building blocks of storytelling and fleshed to their full potential
Could katya have been fleshed out a bit more? maybe. but for the 70s, her character is remarkably well-rounded and her arc is fascinating. like, seriously, if you can find this movie? watch it
