Brief an Breshnew

Atmospheric, un-slick, and utterly unique, Letter to Brezhnev captures a slice of the 1980s which seems all the more extraordinary in 1999. Graced by realistic acting, deft camera work, and a superb soundtrack, one is successfully transformed to a period and a place, in this case wonderfully dreary Liverpool in the early 80s - New Wave music and the Cold War are in full swing. Such a movie is hip today but rarely achieved. The story may seem a little far-fetched - Liverpool girl (Pigg) gets Russian guy (Firth) with a little help from no less than the Soviet Premier - but some of us who grew up in the 80s like to think that it could. The 80s were like that. Now, we just have awful, cynical, formulaic pap - Reality Bites and Boys on the Side...whine, whine, whine. Why can't more movies like Letter to Brezhnev be made?

Ah, but if only it were realistic. Because if anyone knows anything about the way the Soviet Union dealt with sailors in those days, the regime would never have let these two guys go off by themselves on shore, not even for a short while. I hope no one has to explain to you why. And even if this sweet young thing did get her chance to get a letter through to Brezhnev, he would surely be wondering how this sailor was able to free himself long enough to get into this situation in the first place, and I can tell you he wouldn't like it — even if the propaganda value might otherwise be useful.

But of course, romantic notions of life in the Soviet Union were not exactly rare at the time — especially, perhaps, in a very depressed place like Liverpool in the '80's. I wished Elaine luck, but it's kind of like watching one of those old Science Fiction movies and hoping the aliens and the earthlings can learn how to get along, because you know that in real life you don't really have to or get to.

A multifaceted film about two English working class girls (Teresa and Elaine) and two Russian sailors (Peter and Sergei).

In the first half two couples spent a night together. Teresa and Sergei go for the plain vanilla one night stand. Elaine and Peter keep it Platonic, but in so doing get to know each other much better. After all it is Elaine who has the hardest time when the sailors have to get back on board again.

The second half revolves around the relationship of the two friends Elaine and Teresa. This relationship has much in common with the relationship between Elin and Agnes in "Show me love" (1998, Lukas Moodysson). Teresa (Elin) does have the bigger mouth, but Elaine (Agnes) is the one with more guts.

Between the lines the second half is also a little bit of a political satire. There are more films in which romances are disturbed by "big politics" ("The unbearable lightness of being", 1988, Philip Kaufman), but a romance resulting in a girl contemplating an emigration to the Soviet Union is quite new.

In this respect the film is very characteristic of the 80s. The Cold war was passed his prime, in fact (with hinsight) the Soviet Union was nearly dead. On the other hand in England it was the time of the Thatcher years with budget cuts that did hit the Northern part of England (the movie plays in Liverpool) disproportionately hard.

Just like in "Show me love" there is one scene in "Letter to Brezhnev" that is very characteristic of the relation between the two friends. In "Show me love" the relation between Elin and Agnes is defined in the "toilet scene". In "Letter to Brezhnev" the bar scene is equally important. On a given moment Elaine is captivated by doubt if she should go to Russia. She goes outside to make up her mind. When she comes back she orders two wodka's for Teresa and herself. She has made a decision!

I first saw this film when it came out and just fell in love with it. I cannot say why either, it just has a magical quality that draws you in. The setting obviously helps, Liverpool is a beautiful city, architecturally and spiritually and you get lavish helpings of both. The performances from the four lead actors are flawless to me, just the right balance of comedy and pathos, with special mention to Margi Clarke, whose brassy exterior hides a tenderness which she allows to shine through every so often.(As an aside I saw her do stand up once at Band on the Wall in Manchester, and boy was she rude!) I've seen comments on the boards saying people enjoyed it when it first came out, but now find it a bit ridiculous, and I can only totally disagree with them. I still watch this film at least a couple of times a year and never tire of it. If you haven't seen this gem, I can only suggest you get the DVD as soon as possible, and enjoy a film that exudes true human warmth.

Frank Clarke is my favourite writer of British Films (Letter To Brezhnev, Blonde Fist, and I have just found out The Fruit Machine.) The film is set in Modern day working class Liverpool, where two friends Teresa (the one and only Margi Clarke) and Elaine (Alexandra Pigg) hit the town one night and meet two Russian Sailors. Elaine falls head over heels in love and when the sailors set sail Elaine writes a letter to president Brezhnev of Russia regarding her love and the need to see him again as she believes she is being prevented by the British authorities. It is not however a soppy love story, fast paced and again quite true to working class life in Britain in the 1980's. A Film Four production again, who have made the best low budget British Films of the last twenty years.