Katya Goncharova

Katya Goncharova (née Michailov) is a character in *Goncharov (1973)*. She is played by Cybill Shepherd.

## Katya Goncharova

Katya leaving Ice Pick Joe's murder scene.

## Appearances

### Appears in

Goncharov

Depending on the reading, she is either the primary love interest or secondary love interest for Goncharov, or the primary love interest for Sofia. Some readings, especially readings focused on her and Sofia's relationship, consider her to be the film's protagonist, shifting Goncharov's role in the narrative from protagonist to point of view narrator and supporting cast.

Her father dies protecting her and this act of sacrifice and love is the root cause of her character's hang ups as she spends the majority of the film grappling with survivors' guilt. Eventually, through interacting with Sofia and Goncharov, she comes to peace with the fact that there was nothing she could have done to save her father and begins to heal. Her character arc is completed during the film's darkest hour where, in an act paralleling the sacrifice of her father protecting her, sacrifices herself in the boathouse so that Sofia, Goncharov, and Andrey can get away from Mario's goons: She, like her father, dies smiling.

They hold a small wake for to mourn her during which Goncharov delivers a speech explaining one of the primary themes of the film: that the crushing guilt of your past shouldn't prevent you from finding happiness.

## Homoerotic dynamics

Katya's relationship with Sofia is one that has come under much critical media analysis. Whilst some see their relationship as purely based on their common desires and convenience, others argue that the dynamic hosts a homoerotic subtext.

A notable moment that many perceive as Katya trying to express her emotions towards Sofia is the understated border scene. The two have a short conversation regarding the attack they have been subject to, which quickly drifts to the topic of mortality. Katya is then famously quoted as telling Sofia:

"I wish you did not have to die. You, who would easily give up your life for your own strange purposes. I see no lies in you, Sofia, and yet you mystify me. I do not see a good person when I look at you. And yet, when I imagine someone finding you dead, I know that they will find flowers growing through your bones."

This quote has been critically interpreted in many ways, and whilst the most common interpretation is that this scene mimics a confession, others argue Katya is more concerned for herself. Whilst Sofia, despite her duplicitous nature, often centres herself around the concept of the truth, Katya does so with death. Her obsession with inherent goodness and otherwise, and they way she herself perceives where this leads, gives a viewer a glimpse of a side of her we are rarely shown. Although on the surface this statement seems yearning, it can easily be taken as a consideration.

Alongside her moments with Sofia, her relationship with Goncharov is an important player in her characters dynamics, and whether the pair are actually in love is a common debate. One thread points out how Katya's relationship with Goncharov is never the focal point of the film, both preferring the company of their respective friends (both with homoerotic subtext), Sofia and Andrey. Viewing Katya as Goncharov's partner first and foremost could be argued as harmful to the tone that is attempted to be established.

However, the same could be argued for primarily viewing her in the context of her relationship with Sofia. Katya is a powerful woman in her own right with or without Goncharov, and she far outwits him most of the time. We as viewers don’t even get to see half of the behind the scenes business it’s hinted that she plays a crucial role in, and that alone is a key aspect of her character- she can carry out her business secretively without drawing the attention of the audience.

Alternatively, some state that Katya's character and where she ends up is designed to be considered in context to both relationships. They argue that it is pivotal for Katya's character to be understood under the light of her queerness, and that includes her relationship with Goncharov, loving him as one loves an old lover. This is what, ultimately, challenges her identity when she finds herself in the relationship with Sofia the audience is given hints to. She is a queer woman torn apart by the different aspects of her very probable bisexuality and the roles she's been forced upon by being a woman living a life of violence and crime, by her love for a man who is also queer, by the stagnation, by the lies and betrayals she herself had to orchestrate in order to survive. Torn apart by the damage she's done to the woman she loves.

Overall, these can all be considered reasons as to why the boat scene is so powerful. She did not choose Andrey. She did not choose Goncharov. She could not choose Sofia. *She chose herself.*

## Trivia

* Her name is a diminutive of the Russian name Yekaterina (sometimes spelled Ekaterina) and spelled Екатерина in Cyrillic. The name is thought to mean "pure."
* Her patronymic name is Mikhailovna.