Dau. Katya Tanya [top] -

[Close up, Handheld Camera] The camera shakes slightly. We see a clipboard. A hand ticks a box aggressively. Katya (Voiceover): "Subject 7 is rejecting the narrative. Pulse is erratic." Tanya (Off-screen): "He’s not rejecting it, Katya. He’s feeling it."

Set within the hyper-realistic, immersive world of "The Institute"—a reconstructed Soviet-era science center—the story follows (Ekaterina Yuspina), a young librarian whose idealistic views on love are repeatedly crushed by a series of hollow affairs with men, including the scientist Dau himself.

: Katya eventually finds tenderness with Tanya (Tatyana Polozhiy), a journalist. Their relationship provides a rare "LGBT+ angle" in the project, which was highly frowned upon in the Soviet setting—and remains a sensitive topic in modern Russia. DAU. Katya Tanya

The film had its digital global release on , during the peak of the global COVID-19 pandemic. It offers an intense look at love, isolation, and state intervention inside a simulated Soviet ecosystem. The Narrative Arc: Love vs. Totalitarian Reality

The researchers observed a unique phenomenon, where the two women developed a shared reality, creating a complex system of communication, rituals, and even a new language. This phenomenon, known as "folie à deux" or "shared psychosis," raised questions about the boundaries between sanity and insanity, highlighting the human brain's adaptability and capacity for self-deception. [Close up, Handheld Camera] The camera shakes slightly

: Their domestic and romantic sanctuary is short-lived. The state security apparatus, known within the Institute as the "First Department," intervenes. The secret police deem a lesbian relationship entirely unacceptable for a Soviet woman, turning their private utopia into a political crime. The DAU Production Methodology

(2020) is a feature-length drama directed by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel that serves as a vital chapter within the massive, controversial, and highly experimental DAU cinematic universe . Co-authored and directed by Jekaterina Oertel—the project’s only woman co-director—the film stands out by exploring themes of female subjectivity, queer romance, and emotional survival within the oppressive and closely monitored confines of a secret Soviet scientific facility. Katya (Voiceover): "Subject 7 is rejecting the narrative

The keyword "DAU. Katya Tanya" is often searched alongside terms like "shocking," "real," and "abusive." This is because Khrzhanovsky did not direct a drama; he manufactured a pressure cooker. Reports from the set (though disputed) suggest that the actresses were not acting. The apartment was real. The vodka was real. The sleep deprivation was real.

The premise is deceptively simple. Two young women, Katya (Ekaterina Gulyanich) and Tanya (Tatyana Polozhina), share a cramped communal apartment room in the closed "Institute" of the DAU universe. They are not scientists or secretaries; they are bodies. Outside, the KGB (the "Regime") conducts arbitrary searches. Inside, the women play a private game.

The plot of DAU. Katya Tanya is deliberately modest and personal. The film’s central figure is Katya (played by Ekaterina Uspina), a young librarian working at a top-secret Soviet research institute. The narrative initially unfolds in a prologue set in 1942, depicting Katya’s youthful romance with a scientist tragically killed in World War II. A brutal jump cut transports us to 1952, where we find her profoundly altered. The light has disappeared from her face. She moves through the gray, bureaucratic labyrinth of the institute with a weary resignation, engaging in a series of unsatisfying, emotionally barren affairs with various men.

They are running a psychological experiment on a new "subject" (the viewer/audience).