Summer came and went. I'm back, but I would like to continue the topic you have been discussing with Larisa.
Love from Russian perspective is not a lovie-dovie beautiful thing that necessarily ends up in a marriage and happily-ever-after. It has to involve struggle, pain and suffering. Lots of examples can be found in classical Russian literature: Tolstoy showed this kind of love very convincingly. Remember Anna Karenina? That's probably an extreme, but it illustrates the point well.
Sometimes, though, when a person is looking for true love, even in Russia, fate can show the way. It can play a joke, separate a guy from a soon-to-be spouse and transport him, unconscious, overnight to a different city to meet the one who soon becomes the ONE-AND-ONLY.
That's what happens to a protagonist of The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!, a famous Soviet lyrical comedy.
The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (Russian: Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!; Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!) is a Soviet comedy-drama directed by Eldar Ryazanov as a made-for-TV movie. The screenplay was written by Emil Braginsky and Ryazanov, loosely based on Ryazanov's 1971 play Once on New Year's Eve (Russian: Однажды в новогоднюю ночь). For the outside of the Soviet Union distribution it was titled as Happy New Year. The movie was filmed in 1975 at Mosfilm. Simultaneously a screwball comedy and a love story tinged with sadness, the film is traditionally broadcast in Russia and some other former Soviet republics and satellite states every New Year's Day.[1] It is as fondly viewed every year as is the American film It’s a Wonderful Life during the Christmas holidays.
A sequel, The Irony of Fate 2 was released in December 2007.[2]
The key to the plot is the relative uniformity of Brezhnev era public architecture. This is made explicit in a humorous animated prologue, in which architects are overruled by politicians and red tape which results in the polluting the entire planet with identical, unimaginative multistory apartment buildings - of the sort that can in fact be found in the suburbs of every city and town across the former Soviet Union right down to the door key of each apartment. The rest of the film is live-action.
Following their annual tradition, a group of friends meet at a banya (traditional public bath) in Moscow to celebrate New Year's Eve (Новогодняя Ночь, Novogodnyaya Noch). All of them get very drunk toasting the upcoming marriage of the central male character, Zhenya Lukashin (Andrei Myagkov) to Galya (Olga Naumenko). After the bath, one of the friends, Pavlik (Aleksandr Shirvindt), has to catch a plane to Leningrad; Zhenya, in his turn, is supposed to go home to celebrate New Year's Eve with his fiancée. Both Zhenya and Pavlik pass out. The others cannot remember which of their unconscious friends is supposed to be catching the plane; eventually they mistakenly decide that it is Zhenya and put him on a plane instead of Pavlik. On the plane, he collapses onto the shoulder of his annoyed seatmate, played by the director Ryazanov in a brief comedic cameo appearance, who helps him get off the plane in Leningrad. He wakes up in Leningrad airport, believing he is still in Moscow. He stumbles into a taxi and, still quite drunk, gives the driver his address. It turns out that in Leningrad there is a street with the same name (3rd Builders' street), with a building at his address which looks exactly like Zhenya's. The key fits in the door of the apartment with the same number (as alluded to in an introductory narration, in which it is said "...building standard apartments with standard locks"). Inside, even the furniture and layout of the apartment is nearly identical to that of Zhenya's apartment. Zhenya is too drunk to notice the differences, and goes to sleep.
Later, the real tenant, Nadya Shevelyova (Barbara Brylska), arrives home to find the strange man sleeping in her bed. To make matters worse, Nadya's fiancé Ippolit (Yuri Yakovlev) arrives before Nadya can convince Zhenya to get up and leave. Ippolit becomes furious, refuses to believe Zhenya's and Nadya's explanations and storms out. Zhenya desperately tries to get back to Moscow and Nadya herself wants to get rid of him as soon as possible, but unfortunately there are no flights to Moscow until the next morning. Thus the two are compelled to spend New Year's Eve together. At first they continue to treat each other with animosity, but gradually their behavior softens and the two fall in love. Comedic moments punctuated by unexpected guests, the repeated returns of the jealous Ippolit, the buzzing of the doorbell, and the ringing of the phone are interwoven with the slowly developing love story. In the morning, they feel that everything that has happened to them was a delusion, and they make a difficult decision to part. With a heavy heart, Zhenya returns to Moscow. Meanwhile Nadya reconsiders everything and, deciding that she might have let her chance at happiness slip away, takes a plane to Moscow following Zhenya, easily finding him in Moscow, since their addresses are the same (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate).
The movie has wonderful songs in it that also, like the movie, are treasured by former Soviets.
Here's two for you to enjoy.
(The first clip of the first song is from the movie, the second one is by Alla Pugacheva, Russian pop-star, who sang it in the movie.)
Я спросил у ясеня
Sergei Nikitin
Love from Russian perspective is not a lovie-dovie beautiful thing that necessarily ends up in a marriage and happily-ever-after. It has to involve struggle, pain and suffering. Lots of examples can be found in classical Russian literature: Tolstoy showed this kind of love very convincingly. Remember Anna Karenina? That's probably an extreme, but it illustrates the point well.
Sometimes, though, when a person is looking for true love, even in Russia, fate can show the way. It can play a joke, separate a guy from a soon-to-be spouse and transport him, unconscious, overnight to a different city to meet the one who soon becomes the ONE-AND-ONLY.
That's what happens to a protagonist of The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!, a famous Soviet lyrical comedy.
The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (Russian: Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!; Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!) is a Soviet comedy-drama directed by Eldar Ryazanov as a made-for-TV movie. The screenplay was written by Emil Braginsky and Ryazanov, loosely based on Ryazanov's 1971 play Once on New Year's Eve (Russian: Однажды в новогоднюю ночь). For the outside of the Soviet Union distribution it was titled as Happy New Year. The movie was filmed in 1975 at Mosfilm. Simultaneously a screwball comedy and a love story tinged with sadness, the film is traditionally broadcast in Russia and some other former Soviet republics and satellite states every New Year's Day.[1] It is as fondly viewed every year as is the American film It’s a Wonderful Life during the Christmas holidays.
A sequel, The Irony of Fate 2 was released in December 2007.[2]
Following their annual tradition, a group of friends meet at a banya (traditional public bath) in Moscow to celebrate New Year's Eve (Новогодняя Ночь, Novogodnyaya Noch). All of them get very drunk toasting the upcoming marriage of the central male character, Zhenya Lukashin (Andrei Myagkov) to Galya (Olga Naumenko). After the bath, one of the friends, Pavlik (Aleksandr Shirvindt), has to catch a plane to Leningrad; Zhenya, in his turn, is supposed to go home to celebrate New Year's Eve with his fiancée. Both Zhenya and Pavlik pass out. The others cannot remember which of their unconscious friends is supposed to be catching the plane; eventually they mistakenly decide that it is Zhenya and put him on a plane instead of Pavlik. On the plane, he collapses onto the shoulder of his annoyed seatmate, played by the director Ryazanov in a brief comedic cameo appearance, who helps him get off the plane in Leningrad. He wakes up in Leningrad airport, believing he is still in Moscow. He stumbles into a taxi and, still quite drunk, gives the driver his address. It turns out that in Leningrad there is a street with the same name (3rd Builders' street), with a building at his address which looks exactly like Zhenya's. The key fits in the door of the apartment with the same number (as alluded to in an introductory narration, in which it is said "...building standard apartments with standard locks"). Inside, even the furniture and layout of the apartment is nearly identical to that of Zhenya's apartment. Zhenya is too drunk to notice the differences, and goes to sleep.
Later, the real tenant, Nadya Shevelyova (Barbara Brylska), arrives home to find the strange man sleeping in her bed. To make matters worse, Nadya's fiancé Ippolit (Yuri Yakovlev) arrives before Nadya can convince Zhenya to get up and leave. Ippolit becomes furious, refuses to believe Zhenya's and Nadya's explanations and storms out. Zhenya desperately tries to get back to Moscow and Nadya herself wants to get rid of him as soon as possible, but unfortunately there are no flights to Moscow until the next morning. Thus the two are compelled to spend New Year's Eve together. At first they continue to treat each other with animosity, but gradually their behavior softens and the two fall in love. Comedic moments punctuated by unexpected guests, the repeated returns of the jealous Ippolit, the buzzing of the doorbell, and the ringing of the phone are interwoven with the slowly developing love story. In the morning, they feel that everything that has happened to them was a delusion, and they make a difficult decision to part. With a heavy heart, Zhenya returns to Moscow. Meanwhile Nadya reconsiders everything and, deciding that she might have let her chance at happiness slip away, takes a plane to Moscow following Zhenya, easily finding him in Moscow, since their addresses are the same (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate).
The movie has wonderful songs in it that also, like the movie, are treasured by former Soviets.
Here's two for you to enjoy.
(The first clip of the first song is from the movie, the second one is by Alla Pugacheva, Russian pop-star, who sang it in the movie.)
Мне нравится, что Вы больны не мной
Марина Цветаева/Marina Tzvetaeva
Translation by Dina Beliaeva
Мне нравится, что Вы больны не мной, Мне нравится, что я больна не Вами, Что никогда тяжелый шар земной Не уплывет под нашими ногами. Мне нравится, что можно быть смешной Распущенной-и не играть словами, И не краснеть удушливой волной, Слегка соприкоснувшись рукавами. Мне нравится еще, что Вы при мне Спокойно обнимаете другую, Не прочите мне в адовом огне Гореть за то, что я не Вас целую. Что имя нежное мое, мой нежный, не Упоминаете ни днем ни ночью — всуе... Что никогда в церковной тишине Не пропоют над нами: аллилуйя! Спасибо Вам и сердцем и рукой За то, что Вы меня — не зная сами! — Так любите: за мой ночной покой, За редкость встреч закатными часами, За наши не-гулянья под луной, За солнце не у нас на головами, За то, что Вы больны — увы! — не мной, За то, что я больна — увы! — не Вами. | I like that you are not obsessed with me, I like that I have no obsession either, And not for once in the eternity The heavy earth beneath our feet will wither I like I can be funny and be free, Be careless with words and never bother To be betrayed by tide of blush when we Brush with our sleeves when passing one another. I also like that in my company You’re confident enough to hug the other, You don’t foretell infernal suffering To me for being kissed by other lovers. I also like you never call in vain The sweet inflection of my name, my sweetie And that we’ll never live to see the day When wedding bells hail us with nuptial greetings. I thank you from the bottom of my heart For loving me so much quite unawares: For nightly peace that you will never thwart, For twilight dates that can not be more scarce, For moonlight walks that we will never start, And for the sun above that'll never wear us, For you, alas, who’re not obsessed with me, For me, alas, with no obsession either. |
Я спросил у ясеня
Sergei Nikitin
Я спросил у ясеня, Где моя любимая? Ясень не ответил мне Качая головой. Я спросил у тополя, Где моя любимая? Тополь забросал меня Осеннею листвой Я спросил у осени, Где моя любимая? Осень мне ответила Проливным дождем. У дождя я спрашивал, Где моя любимая? Долго дождик слезы лил За моим окном. Я спросил у месяца, Где моя любимая? Месяц скрылся в облаке, Не ответил мне. Я спросил у облака, Где моя любимая? Облако растаяло В небесной синеве. Друг ты мой единственный, Где моя любимая? Ты скажи, где скрылася? Знаешь, где она? Друг ответил преданный, Друг ответил искренний: Была тебе любимая, Была тебе любимая, Была тебе любимая, А стала мне жена. Я спросил у ясеня… Я спросил у тополя… Я спросил у осени... | The ash-tree I did question, Where’s my dear beloved? The ash-tree did not answer me, Only swayed its head. The poplar tree I questioned, Where’s my dear beloved? The poplar tree did cover me With autumn falling leaves. Autumn I did question, Where’s my dear beloved? Autumn promptly answered me Showering with rain. The falling rain I questioned, Where’s my dear beloved? The rains was crying for a long time Outside my window The crescent moon I questioned Where’s my dear beloved? The moon hid in the clouds And did not answer me The cloud I did question Where’s my dear beloved? The cloud disappeared In the blue of sky. Dear friend, my only friend Where’s my dear beloved? Tell me where she’s hidden? Do you know where she is? My friend replied devotedly My friend replied sincerely Beloved, yes, she was to you, Beloved, yes, she was to you, Beloved, yes, she was to you, But she’s become my wife. The ash-tree I did question… The poplar tree I questioned… Autumn I did question… |
