Volodya

Volodya is a boy a few years younger than Lilya in Lilya 4-Ever, the Swedish film discussed by the narrator and her friend. Abused by his drunken father, he is cast out of his home and finds refuge with Lilya. Their brief friendship offers a rare interval of happiness in a story otherwise marked by cruelty and betrayal; after Lilya leaves for Sweden, Volodya dies by suicide, and the film continues to show him as an angel.

Identity and Circumstances

Volodya is introduced through the narrator’s account of a conversation with her friend about a film she had seen years earlier. He is younger than Lilya by a few years, and his home life is defined by his father’s abuse and drunkenness. When his father throws him out, Volodya has nowhere secure to turn until Lilya takes him in.

Friendship with Lilya

Lilya becomes Volodya’s friend and offers him shelter. Their relationship is presented as an exception to the cruelty Lilya has learned to expect from the people around her. The two children share a few happy moments together, making their companionship a small but consequential refuge within the film’s bleak account of her life.

Separation and Death

Volodya’s bond with Lilya makes her departure for Sweden a decisive rupture. Lilya accepts Andrei’s promise of a new life, despite what leaving will mean for Volodya; she is the only friend in the world he has. In response to her departure, he kills himself. The account establishes the separation as the immediate circumstance of his death without reducing the wider causes of his suffering to a single explanation.

Angelic Presence and Narrative Significance

Volodya continues to appear in the film after his death, in the form of an angel. His return preserves his connection to Lilya within the story even after their earthly companionship has ended. The director, as reported by the narrator’s friend, believed that God took care of Lilya and Volodya, who appears as an angel after death. This belief places Volodya’s supernatural appearances within the film’s imagery of care, while the circumstances of his life and death remain a stark measure of how little protection he received from the people around him.