User reviews

A great metaphor is stated in this film: "We are porcupines traveling at night across a cold desert. We want to get warm by hugging or cuddling together. However, something that protects us from the outside world, our needles are preventing us from doing so. So instead of allowing us to get close to each other, we jab anyone who tries to do so." This is the kind of philosophical depth, I had not anticipated from what I thought was just a simple comedy. I REdiscovered this a year ago on Russian satellite "all-movie" channel "RTVI+" or "Nashe Kino". Obviously, when this film came out it was "beyond me" as I was only 5 years old.

the title tells the story: 2 people (igor, an ex-athlete aimlessly living and chasing rubles to get drunk and vera, an ugly duck librarian) try to find there luck by planning to fall in love with each other by means of "psychological conditioning". intelligent, funny and heartwarming movie from 1982. the movie was show as part of a Oleg Yankovsky retrospective at filmfest muenchen 2003.