DAU. Degeneration (2020) — AI Story Visualization

Plot Analysis Summary

An authoritarian purge destroys a decaying Soviet institute where scientific ambition, mysticism, rebellion, and political violence converge.

Story Structure — 4 Plot Phases

A Leaderless Institute

The secret institute enters its final years after its renowned chief scientist becomes incapacitated. A KGB general takes control and replaces permissiveness with authoritarian discipline.

Key Events

• Institute Enters Its Final Years — The institute is portrayed during its final years between 1966 and 1968. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Landau Becomes Incapacitated — The institute's renowned chief scientist becomes incapacitated. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Leadership Vacuum Emerges — The incapacitation of the chief scientist leaves the institution vulnerable to a change in control. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• KGB General Takes Control — A stern KGB general assumes the position of institute director. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Permissive Culture Is Suppressed — The new director clamps down on the institute's permissive and debauched culture. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Abuse Is Officially Halted — The new administration attempts to stop unchecked abuse associated with the previous leadership. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute

Experiments Without Limits

The new order does not end the institute's disturbing activity. Experiments involving animals, humans, and infants continue alongside attempts to investigate mysticism and creation.

Key Events

• Abuse Is Officially Halted — The new administration attempts to stop unchecked abuse associated with the previous leadership. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Strange Activity Continues — Despite political control, unsettling scientific and mystical activity continues inside the institute. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Animal Experiments Proceed — Experiments on animals are conducted as researchers pursue the limits of knowledge. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Human Experiments Expand — The institute's experiments extend from animals to human subjects. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Experiments Involve Infants — The pursuit of creation and knowledge reaches experiments involving infants. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Mysticism Blurs Scientific Boundaries — Scientific experimentation and mysticism become increasingly difficult to separate. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute

Rebellion Under Conformity

The decaying institution becomes a site of generational conflict. Younger staff embrace Western influences, but their dissent is punished by an increasingly rigid administration.

Key Events

• Mysticism Blurs Scientific Boundaries — Scientific experimentation and mysticism become increasingly difficult to separate. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Institutional Decay Deepens — The institute appears increasingly decayed while its experiments continue. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Younger Staff Embrace Western Culture — Younger staff members express dissent through Western cultural influences such as rock and roll. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Youthful Dissent Is Punished — The younger staff's cultural rebellion is met with punishment and enforced conformity. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Discipline Campaign Escalates — Administrative repression develops into a broader campaign to restore discipline. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Militant Group Arrives — A violent ultra-left-wing group arrives with KGB sponsorship. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute

The Purge

A KGB-sponsored ultra-left-wing group arrives to restore discipline. Intimidation becomes ideological violence, ending in the extermination of the staff and destruction of the institute's legacy.

Key Events

• Militant Group Arrives — A violent ultra-left-wing group arrives with KGB sponsorship. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Intimidation Becomes Terror — The group's campaign of intimidation escalates into widespread violence. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Ideological Purge Targets Staff — Racist, antisemitic, and homophobic ideologies drive attacks against the institute's staff. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Institute Staff Are Exterminated — The purge culminates in the brutal extermination of the institute's staff. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute
• Scientific Legacy Is Destroyed — The violent purge destroys the institution and its scientific legacy. Location: Secret Soviet scientific institute

Story Breakdown

• Institutional Decline — The institute enters its final years amid political uncertainty and social decay.
  • Final Years — The story is set between 1966 and 1968 as the institute approaches collapse.
  • Leadership Vacuum — The incapacitation of the chief scientist destabilizes the existing order.
• Authoritarian Takeover — A KGB general assumes control and imposes discipline on the institute.
  • New Director — A stern KGB general becomes the institute's director.
  • Permissiveness Suppressed — The new leadership targets debauchery and unchecked abuse.
• Unbounded Experiments — Scientific and mystical investigations continue despite political repression.
  • Animal Testing — Researchers experiment on animals while pursuing new knowledge.
  • Human Creation — Experiments extend to humans and infants in attempts to explore creation.
• Generational Rebellion — Younger staff members resist conformity through Western cultural expression.
  • Rock And Roll — Rock and roll becomes a visible form of youthful dissent.
  • Punished Dissent — The administration responds to cultural rebellion with punishment and conformity.
• Militant Intervention — The KGB sponsors an ultra-left-wing group to restore institutional discipline.
  • Group Arrival — Violent militants enter the institute under political sponsorship.
  • Ideological Violence — Racist, antisemitic, and homophobic beliefs shape the group's attacks.
• Total Destruction — The intimidation campaign becomes a purge that erases the institute and its legacy.
  • Staff Extermination — The institute's staff are brutally exterminated during the purge.
  • Legacy Erased — The violence destroys the institution's remaining scientific legacy.

Directed by

Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Ilya Permyakov

Key Cast

• Vladimir Azhippo — Secret Services Curator
• Dmitry Kaledin — Head of the Theoretical Department
• Olga Shkabarnya — Kaledin's wife
• Alexey Blinov — Head of the Experimental Department
• Victoria Skitskaya — Waitress of the Institute cafe