Romance cruelle

I read a comment from one of the readers that he has a difficulty understanding the film from the Western point of view. At least this time the viewer admits having problems with crossing the cultural boundary. Film is not riddled with cliches, it`s theatrical and highly artistic. It should be viewed almost as a poem translated into reality. It doest`n ask from actors just stand there and act natural, it asks for a brilliant, almost satirical work, which is performed in this movie perfectly. Realism is not the goal here. And yet, story like that very well could happened at that time, to the smallest details.

AKA The Cruel Romance

Absolutely one the the very BEST film ever made. Powerful drama thanks to Orstrovsky, and the amazing director and his heavenly cast. Hail to Alisa Frejndlikh, who appeared in his comedy "The Office Romance". Everyone love movie as a form of art should not miss it.

It is the best Russian film I have even seen. It is based on A.H. novel. The actor and actress are the best one. It also include some nice songs which really express the theme of the film. The film won the 1985' Russian National Film Festival.

Either I don't understand something, or this film is a montage of scenes that have little to do with each other. The plot is unclear, the actors overact, Ryazanov repeats himself. I don't understand what there is to praise, except that Guzeeva is a cutie. What's happening on screen makes you sleepy, each character is more boring than the next, the script seems to have been written under sedation. I wouldn't be surprised that this film has received great reviews in Russia - apparently, only Russian viewers can understand this awesomeness. The drama is untouchable, the humor is dull, watching this in 2025 means not respecting yourself.

I'll try not to spoil the plot for anyone, especially since while you will guess the direction in which the fate of the heroine is moving you won't guess the final resolution till the last moment.

What makes this masterpiece so rare is the confluence of four exceptional artists which allowed unprecedented blending of music into a thriller with well developed characters. Not as a background but as a part of the story. Let's just say that if you skip the lyrics you won't be able to follow the motivation of main characters. This is what allowed it to stand the test of time. I watched it 27 years after it was made and it is as fresh and vibrant as if it was this year's production.

First of the four is of course Ostrovsky who wrote a thriller with character development and emotional story that will keep you guessing to the very end even after you know each character, it's motivation, and sometimes even fate. It's close to knowing that is Titanic going to sink but you can't stop watching since it's the "how" and fine grained aspects that really matter.

Even without the other cinematic elements the play itself would make for a good movie, but for director (Eldar Ryazanov) this is just the beginning. Ryazanov is the principal artist here who takes the credit not just for the exceptional blending of music but also for making the actual big river (Volga) and an old steamboat integral parts of the story and metaphors. One can easily imagine Missisippy and Jazz instead of Gypsy music, or Danube and a Strauss waltz band without any change to the story. He made conceptual structure completely universal while keeping the full flavor of the old Russia.

The composer (Andrei Petrov) is the next artist equally responsible for this rare blend and not just the instrumental part but also vocal, actual poetry used for lyrics and the stylization and blending of Russian Gypsy music.

Last but not least - Nikita Mikhalkov as the male lead and the heart and soul of the ensemble who managed to combine tragic, comic and even musical aspects in impeccable performance with surprising facial and physical acting capabilities.

This is the ensemble play/film, meaning that most actors had to work hard to make their characters alive, but female lead (Larisa Guzeyeva ) deserves special praise for effective blending of dramatic and musical aspects doubling up as narrative. Also, there are virtually no precision cutting tricks (director cutting into replicas to make it look like less capable actors actually played emotions and transitions). Scenes are mostly filmed in long shots with minimal editing. Just that aspect provides the quality an order of magnitude above a comparable Hollywood production. It's not that it's not doable but that the cost of production would be prohibitively high to reach that level.

And in the end I will say (А напоследок я скажу :-) this is one of the films to keep and watch again every several years. Like the big river, it constantly flows, and is constantly fresh.