Anniversary of the "almost a prophetic apprehension of the new Russian era"
On November 23, 1984, in the USSR the film "A Cruel Romance" by Eldar Ryazanov had been released.
"A Cruel Romance" is probably the most atypical film in the work of Eldar Ryazanov. Because, at first, neither before this film, nor after this film too, Ryazanov made adaptations of the classic masterpieces. Secondly, never before this film the action in his movies ended with murder.
However, the "birth" of the film "A Cruel Romance" was the result of a chance. Or, let’s say, this Ryazanov’s masterpiece appeared because another masterpiece did not appear. The fact is that in 1982, Eldar Ryazanov was eager to make a film based on the play of Lyudmila Razumovskaya “Dear Elena Sergeevna”, which he liked, and which was super-topical at that time. But: what is the 1982 year? Late Brezhnev, later replaced by Andropov ... In short, the political situation in the country did not allow the cinematic leadership to allow Ryazanov to film such acute material.
Of course, Ryazanov's consistency and his love for L. Razumovskaya's play led to the birth of the film conceived in 1982, but much later - in 1988. When, thanks to perestroika and glasnost, Soviet viewers and readers have learned so much that the events described in "Dear Elena Sergeevna", most seemed ordinary "childish pranks".
But back to the "A Cruel Romance". If Razumovskaya's play, due to its ultra-acute nature, as of 1982, turned out to be "unfilmable", then the repeatedly verified drama of the Russian classic A. N. Ostrovsky did not cause any objections from the party and cinematic authorities. Except, perhaps, that by that time two film adaptations of the play "Without a Dowry" had already taken place. But the last film adaptation took place in 1936. So, this circumstance did not generate serious objections.
We will not dwell on the description of the filming of this film, since Eldar Ryazanov himself with his inherent humor described his work on the film in the book "Unsummed Results", as well as in a number of interviews, for example, here.
Let us only pay attention to the fact that this film, which became one of the favorite among Soviet cinema viewers, as evidenced by the recognition of it as the best film of the year according to a survey by the Soviet Screen magazine, was severely criticized by film critics of the time. As E. Ryazanov himself subsequently wrote: “Almost all newspapers -“ Pravda ”in the article by Mikhail Shvydkoi,“ Trud ”,“ Literaturnaya Gazeta ”,“ Soviet Culture ”,“ Komsomolskaya Pravda ”- did not leave no stone unturned for me as a film director, smeared me on the wall. "
The accusations made by critics were, as it is clear today, ridiculous. That in the film Paratov (performed by Nikita Mikhalkov) sings, and according to the original source - Ostrovsky's play - he should not sing. That in the film Larisa Ogudalova absolutely unambiguously gave herself to Paratov, while in Ostrovsky's play such an unambiguous statement of her "fall" is not contained. Etc., etc. And so much encroached on the distortion of the classics. Plus, Eldar Ryazanov was put to blame that for the role of such a significant image of Russian classics, he took a debutante, just graduated from the theater Institute Larisa Guzeeva (although in the 1936 film, taken as a standard, Larisa was played by 18-year-old Nina Alisova).
This frantic criticism, it cannot be said otherwise, since there were no serious reasons, is easily explainable, if to take into consideration, again, the pecularity of the "historical moment". The fact is that the film was released that year when Konstantin Chernenko reigned in the USSR. Actually, Chernenko himself at that moment was already a deeply ill person. Plus, he was always not smart enough. But with his coming to power, all those who dreamed of returning the Stalinist order rose. And Eldar Ryazanov was one of the most desired targets for these “Stalinist falcons of the pen”. After all, shortly before the release of "A Cruel Romance" Ryazanov made the sharply-satirical films "Garage" and "Say the Word About the Poor Hussar", in some characters of which the bureaucrats could recognize themselves. And even earlier, Ryazanov aroused the anger of the party and cinema authorities by the fact that he offered the role of Cyrano de Bergerac in the film that was supposed to be staged, to the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who was at that moment in disgrace for condemning the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. And when Ryazanov was forbidden to shoot Yevtushenko, Eldar Ryazanov simply refused to make this film, for the preparation of which considerable financial resources had already been spent.
In short, for the time being, these Stalinists film critics had to restrain themselves, gritting his teeth. But in the coming to power of K. Chernenko, this audience heard the command "Bite!" and rushed to mock the popularly beloved Director. Naturally, in such circumstances, the film could not be nominated for any international film festival. But somehow it made it to the 10th Indian international film festival, where in January 1985 an international jury chaired by the great Jeanne Moreau awarded this film the First prize for the best film.
As already noted, the opinion of moviegoers radically diverged from the opinion of the communist oriented film critics. And the film critics of the new, democratic, Russia, this picture of Eldar Ryazanov did not cause rejection. Moreover, one of the most respected Russian film critics, Andrei Plakhov, called this film "an almost prophetic premonition of the new Russian era".
More than 72% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users around the world gave this film a rating of 8 or higher. Based on this, the film "A Cruel Romance" is included in the Golden Thousand with Rank 612 and rating of 8.08.
