On October 26, 1977, the premiere of Eldar Ryazanov's melodrama Office Romance took place, which later became a classic of Soviet cinema.
The film was based on the play by Ryazanov and Emil Braginsky "Co-workers" in 1971.
Even before the film adaptation, it was staged at the Moscow Mayakovsky Theater (starring Boris Levinson and Galina Anisimova) and the Leningrad Theater of Satire and Comedy (Novoseltsev - Pyotr Velyaminov, Kalugina - Olga Volkova).
Boris Kondratiev's two-episode television play of the same name could not achieve audience sympathy, and the authors decided to take the film production into their own hands.
The working title of the future Office Romance was The Tale of the Leading Cinderella.
The plot of the tape is quite unpretentious, understandable and close to the viewer: the screen unfolds the story of a single father, Novoseltsev, who dreams of climbing the career ladder in one of the typical Soviet institutions, headed by a “mymra” headmistress.
On the advice of the new deputy leader, Samokhvalov, the main character decides to hit on her, but as a result, he falls in love for real.
Well, a love story develops against the background of the life and work of other employees of the institution, with its intrigues, bureaucracy and other nuances.
No trial or doubt
The leadership of the Mosfilm studio was so confident in the director that they gave him full carte blanche to recruit actors - an unthinkable freedom at that time.
“Artistic councils demanded that for any role - and even more so for the main role played by Alice (Freindlich. - RT ) - at least two candidates should be provided, and ideally three or four in general.
But Eldar Aleksandrovich had such fame at that time, he was so loved by both the audience and the leadership that they went to meet him, ”the KP quotes actress Svetlana Nemolyaeva.
© Shot from the film "Office Romance"
As a result, the performers of the main roles, Alisa Freindlikh, Andrey Myagkov, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Lyudmila Ivanova, Oleg Basilashvili and others, were approved without trial - only on the basis of the director's vision.
The script was originally written for specific artists, even the role of Kalugina was invented for Freindlich, despite the fact that the actress lived in Leningrad and served in the Lensoviet Theater.
The director had to persuade the wife of the artist - the artistic director of the theater Igor Vladimirov.
And his consent to Freundlich's participation in the filming was obtained on the condition that she did not miss a single performance.
For more than two months of work on the film, the actress actually lived in two cities.
Bright characters and a song about the weather
Talking about the filming of "Office Romance", the actors have repeatedly mentioned the completely indescribable and "light" atmosphere that the director created on the set.
In an interview with RT, the performer of the role of Olga Ryzhova, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, shared her memories on this subject.
“Ryazanov knew how to create a wonderful atmosphere.
He knew perfectly well what he needed, he did not have any throwing “maybe this way ... Maybe that way ... Maybe that way”.
He knew exactly what to play and how to work - the band, the operators, anyone.
And then, he himself has always had a great sense of humor, which helps insanely in his work.
I think that's why there was such a wonderful atmosphere.
And then we all, the whole main group of actors that played, we were all in a very friendly state.
We felt somehow good and comfortable with each other, which is also important for working together.
Because sometimes it happens somehow individually that artists can hardly endure each other or they are somehow not very comfortable, ”said Nemolyaeva.
© Shot from the film "Office Romance"
For a long time there were rumors that Basilashvili wanted to play Novoseltsev, and the actor did not like the role of Samokhvalov that he got.
Subsequently, already allegedly in the process of working on the picture, Basilashvili admitted that Ryazanov was right in the distribution of characters.
But in 2013, the actor in an interview said that this was someone's invention and in reality this had never happened.
Not everyone knows that Basilashvili has another "role" in the film - but behind the scenes.
He "plays" the wife of the secretary Vera, with whom she constantly swears on the phone.
The fact is that initially this role was played by Alexander Fatyushin.
They even managed to shoot a few scenes with him, but the actor fell ill and almost all the material with him was cut from the final version.
But the voice of the character on the phone belongs to Basilashvili.
On the site during the filming was not without oddities.
Basilashvili was supposed to drive a car, but he did not have a driver's license, not the slightest experience: the actor at that time had never been behind the wheel in his life.
An instructor was hired for him, but the artist did not have time to complete the course.
As a result, filming was interrupted several times due to Basilashivli's inexperience, and once he drove into the Soyuzpechat kiosk.
After that, by the way, the artist was sure that he would no longer see the fee for the film, but everything worked out.
And in addition to the fee, he and his colleagues also received the USSR State Prize.
The image of the legendary "mymra" was collected collectively - the most baggy, shapeless and out-of-fashion outfits of incomprehensible colors - "guny", as Alisa Freindlikh called them, were brought to light from the dressing rooms of Mosfilm.
But some "characteristic" detail was missing.
She got old glasses in a massive frame, not at all feminine - they belonged to the father of cameraman Vladimir Nakhabtsev.
© Shot from the film "Office Romance"
Similar glasses complemented the image of the “clerical rat” Novoseltsev performed by Andrey Myagkov.
He had to wear a rare false mustache for the role.
The main task of the team was to create for Myagkov an image that was radically different from his role in the sensational “Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” After which the actor literally bathed in the love of the audience and was too recognizable.
For the collective image of the "statistical institution" of the era of Brezhnev's stagnation, where the main characters worked, three locations in Moscow were used.
The facade of the house is the Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport on Kuznetsky Most, the characters' offices were built in the Mosfilm pavilions, and Kalugina's workplace had access to the roof of the nine-story pre-revolutionary "skyscraper" in Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky Lane.
Organizations such as Research Institute of Chego (Ryazanovsky nod to the Strugatsky brothers), Mosrybstroy, Glavkost and others worked in the same building with an unnamed statistical institution.
Appropriate signs can be seen at the doors of the building.
To emphasize the status of the office, a rare Hungarian computer terminal Videoton-340 was installed in Kalugina's office, which at that time cost absolutely fabulous money - more than 400 thousand rubles (for comparison, a Zhiguli could be bought for 5 thousand rubles).
Expensive equipment was brought to the shooting daily, and taken away in the evening.
In order to give his picture the form of a film, and not a TV show, Ryazanov included a number of scenes in Office Romance in which the characters get to work along the Moscow streets.
The director really liked the snow, which covered the fallen leaves at the end of September.
And during these shootings, he came up with the line “nature has no bad weather”, which became the basis for the legendary song.
Not knowing about the authorship of Ryazanov, Andrey Myagkov said that he did not like the composition.
“I wrote a song for “Office Romance” - “Nature has no bad weather.”
I showed it to different people without telling who the author was.
Everyone unanimously said that it was wonderful.
Only Myagkov muttered something: they say, well, nothing like, it could be better, - MK quotes Ryazanov.
The director jokes that he was later punished for this - in the film "Garage" he got a role without words.
© Shot from the film "Office Romance"
“Office Romance” is a multi-layered picture, where a reflection of the Soviet reality of that period is hidden behind the main storylines of several pairs: an unnamed statistical institution is numerous research institutes and design bureaus, in which hundreds of people formally worked, but not everyone was engaged in real work.
So in Ryazanov's film, many characters rather created an imitation of labor activity.
For example, Shurochka (Lyudmila Ivanova), who abandoned the accounting department entrusted to her and was engaged exclusively in public work, or the heroine of Svetlana Nemolyaeva Olga, tired of the gray routine, but literally “revived” when her youthful love appeared in their institution - Samokhvalova.
The line of relations between Olga Ryzhova and Samokhvalov contrasted sharply with the story of Novoseltsev and Kalugina, turning out to be much more tragic: Basilashvili's character, unlike the heroine Nemolyaeva, was quite successfully married (as indicated by his position, hints that he had repeatedly been abroad - and this is in the 1970s - some accessories, like an expensive diplomat, a foreign watch and a cassette player in the car, an apartment in the center and even a housekeeper) and is completely uninterested in resurrecting long-forgotten feelings.
“I played the heroine, Olya, not “shifting” her onto myself, but what was written.
It was clear to me and not very difficult.
There was a very good message on how to work.
Ryazanov gave it to us.
I understood what and how.
Therefore, I can’t say that I tried on myself (the image of the heroine. -
RT
), I thought more about this woman, and not about myself, ”said Svetlana Nemolyaeva.
Well, the image of the secretary Verochka is also understandable to the modern viewer - a gossip who knows everything about everyone and is much better versed in fashion than in her immediate duties.
Reception and legacy
The combination of bright and lively images, close to the audience, which recognized itself in the characteristic types, gave a stunning result: the picture, released on screens in 1977, became the leader of the rental - it was watched by almost 60 million viewers.
The popular magazine "Soviet Screen" named "Office Romance" the film of the year, and the leading actors - the actor and actress of the year.
The picture took 19th place in attendance among domestic films in the entire history of Soviet film distribution.
© Shot from the film "Office Romance"
“We all understood that we were filming very good material.
We all knew it would be a good job.
But that it will be so durable... After all, cinema quickly becomes obsolete, not all films live their lives so that they are always on the screen, or in cinemas.
But then an amazing thing happened, for us - a precious thing, for the actors participating in the film, that he is, to put it in vulgar language, “not bending”, not leaving.
Judging by the way I sometimes communicate with the audience, or some random people, even the new generation, the youth, is watching it, which is infinitely valuable, ”said Svetlana Nemolyaeva.
The popularity of the picture led to the fact that in 2011 director Sarik Andreasyan shot its remake - “Office Romance. Nowadays". The adaptation was lukewarmly received by critics and audiences alike. The rating of the picture on aggregators also leaves much to be desired.
Svetlana Nemolyaeva noted that she did not watch the modern interpretation of history, considering the production of such a picture a bad idea.
“I think that doing a remake of a picture shot by Ryazanov, which ... Well, maybe it’s indecent to say so and uncomfortable is perfection, but something close to it;
and replace the actors who played there, and put this text, these themes, scenes in others - decided differently by another director ... I thought it was just recklessness.
And I turned out to be right, because this remake did not receive any interest either from the audience, or from critics, or from anyone ... To make a remake of a film that we are still in love with, quotes from which are used and these quotes are associated with those actors who they are pronounced - this, in my opinion, is just suicide, ”the actress shared her point of view.
Well, the original and unique Office Romance was re-released in Russian cinemas in 2022.
Especially for the release, the tape was released with a restored image and sound.