''Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears'' (russian: Москва слезам не верит, Moskva slezam ne verit) is a 1980 Soviet romantic drama film made by
Mosfilm
Mosfilm (russian: Мосфильм, ''Mosfil’m'' ) is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output inclu ...
Part One
In 1958, three young women, Katerina, Lyudmila, and Antonina, live in Moscow in a workers' dormitory, having emigrated from rural villages. Antonina ( Raisa Ryazanova) is seeing Nikolai, a reserved but kind young man whose parents have a
dacha
A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...
in the country, while Katerina ( Vera Alentova) is serious and hardworking, working in a factory while dreaming of earning a degree in chemistry. When she is asked to house-sit for her well-to-do Moscow relatives, Lyudmila ( Irina Muravyova), flirty and impetuous, invites herself along and convinces Katerina to throw a dinner party as a ploy to meet successful men. At the party, Lyudmila talks with Sergei, a famous hockey player, while Katerina meets Rudolf (Yuri Vasilyev), a smooth talker who works as a cameraman for a local television station. During Antonina and Nikolai's wedding, Lyudmila and Antonina learn that Katerina is pregnant. Rudolf refuses to marry Katerina, who gives birth to a daughter, Aleksandra. Lyudmilla and Sergei marry.
Part Two
Twenty years later, in 1978, Katerina has become the executive director of a large factory, living with her now 20-year-old daughter in a nice apartment. She, Lyudmila and Antonina are still close; Lyudmilla has divorced Sergei, who has quit playing hockey and become an alcoholic, while Antonina is happily married to Nikolai and lives in the countryside with their three children.
One evening, as Katerina is returning home, she meets Gosha ( Aleksey Batalov), who begins a conversation with her after she notices his dirty shoes. Gosha is an intelligent tool-and-die maker in a research institute (where his instrument maintenance skills are an enormously valued help to his scientist coworkers), and Katerina finds him insightful enough to begin dating him. Gosha states his belief that a woman should not make more money than her husband, so Katerina only reveals she works in a factory, but not as its director. As their romance progresses, Rudolf unexpectedly reenters Katerina's life, and tells her he wants to meet his daughter. Katerina curtly tells him that she does not want to see him again, but he shows up uninvited at her apartment and tells Gosha and Aleksandra about the interview, revealing Katerina's executive position (and high salary) to Gosha. Gosha's pride is hurt, and he leaves the apartment; unable to stop him, Katerina reveals to Aleksandra that Rudolf is her father.
Gosha disappears from Katerina's life, and she becomes frantic. A week later, Lyudmila, Antonina, and Nikolai come to her apartment to comfort her. Nikolai gathers what little information Katerina knows about Gosha (which does not even include his last name) and finds him drinking alone, still stung by Katerina's "betrayal". Nicolai convinces Gosha to return home, and, alone with Katerina and Aleksandra, Gosha asks for dinner. As he eats, Katerina watches him, saying "I've been looking for you for such a long time." "Eight days", Gosha replies, to which Katerina, with tears in her eyes, repeats, "I've been looking for you for such a long time."
Valentina Ushakova
Valentina may refer to:
Entertainment Film
* ''Valentina'' (1950 film), a 1950 Argentine film
* ''Valentina'' (2008 film), a 2008 Argentine film
Television
* ''Valentina'' (1993 telenovela), a 1993 Mexican telenovela
* Valentina (2013 teleno ...
– Anna Nikitichna, Nikolai's mother
*
Yuri Vasilyev
Yury Nikolayevich Vasilyev (russian: Ю́рий Никола́евич Васи́льев; October 12, 1939 — June 4, 1999) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He is best known for film roles in '' The Journalist'' (1967) and '' M ...
– Rodion Rachkov ("Rudolph"), Aleksandra's father
*
Yevgeniya Khanayeva
Yevgeniya Nikandrovna Khanayeva (russian: Евге́ния Ника́ндровна Хана́ева; January 2, 1921 – November 8, 1987) was a Soviet and Russian film and stage actress. People's Artist of the USSR (1987).
Biography
She was ...
– Rodion's mother
* Liya Akhedzhakova – Olga Pavlovna, single's club director
*
Zoya Fyodorova
Zoya Alekseyevna Fyodorova (russian: Зоя Алексеевна Федорова; 11 December 1981) was a Russian film star who had an affair with American Navy captain Jackson Tate in 1945 and bore a child, Victoria Fyodorova in January 1946. ...
Oleg Tabakov
Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov (russian: Олег Павлович Табаков; 17 August 1935 – 12 March 2018) was a Soviet and Russian actor and the Artistic Director of the Moscow Art Theatre. People's Artist of the USSR (1988).
Biography
Tabakov ...
– Vladimir, Katya's lover
*
Vladimir Basov
Vladimir Pavlovich Basov (russian: link=no, Владимир Павлович Басов; 28 July 192317 September 1987) was a Soviet Russian actor, film director and screenwriter. People's Artist of the USSR (1983).
Biography
Vladimir Basov was ...
– Anton Kruglov, deputy chief of the central board
* Alexander Borodyansky – Gosha's friend
*
Garri Bardin
Garri Yakovlevich Bardin (russian: Гарри Яковлевич Бардин; born September 11, 1941) is a Soviet and Russian animation director, screenwriter, producer and actor best known for his experimental musical and stop motion films.''S ...
– chemical plant chief engineer
*
Cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
s:
**
Andrei Voznesensky
Andrei Andreyevich Voznesensky (russian: link=no, Андре́й Андре́евич Вознесе́нский, 12 May 1933 – 1 June 2010) was a Soviet and Russian poet and writer who had been referred to by Robert Lowell as "one of the ...
**
Innokenty Smoktunovsky
Innokenty Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky (russian: Иннокентий Михайлович Смоктуновский; born ''Smoktunovich'', 28 March 19253 August 1994) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was named a People's Artist ...
**
Georgi Yumatov
Georgi Aleksandrovich Yumatov ( rus, Гeopгий Алeксандpoвич Юматов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj jʊˈmatəf; 11 March 1926 – 6 October 1997) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He appeared in 72 films between 1946 and 1994. He ...
Tatyana Konyukhova
Tatyana Georgyevna Konyukhova (russian: Татья́на Гео́ргиевна Ко́нюхова; born November 12, 1931, Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR) is a Soviet actress. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1991). Member of the CPSU since 1967.
Biogr ...
Over 93 million Soviet viewers saw the film in the cinema, making it one of the most successful films in
Soviet history
The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...
. In 2021, a poll conducted by
Russian Public Opinion Research Center
Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM or VCIOM) ( rus, Всероссийский центр изучения общественного мнения – ВЦИОМ, Vserossiysky tsentr izucheniya obshchestvennogo mneniya) is a state-own ...
voted it as the best Soviet film of all time among Russian viewers. The film currently holds a rating of 8.1/10 on
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
.
Then-U.S.
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Ronald Reagan watched the film several times before his meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in order to gain a better understanding of the " Russian soul".
Awards and nominations
Background
* ''Moskva slezam ne verit'', translated officially as "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears", but more accurately, "Moscow puts no faith in tears" or "Moscow is unmoved by tears", is a Russian proverb meaning "don't complain, solve your problems by yourself".
* Valentin Chernykh admitted that he received many proposals from Hollywood at that time, but he rejected all of them, since he thought that any remakes of the movie would fail.
*
Vitaly Solomin
Vitaly Mefodievich Solomin (russian: link=no, Виталий Мефодьевич Соломин; 12 December 194127 May 2002) was a Soviet and Russian actor, director and screenwriter, best remembered for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherloc ...
,
Vyacheslav Tikhonov
Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Tikhonov (russian: Вячесла́в Васи́льевич Ти́хонов; 8 February 1928, in Pavlovsky Posad – 4 December 2009, in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian actor whose best known role was as Soviet spy, ...
,
Oleg Yefremov
Oleg Nikolayevich Yefremov (russian: Оле́г Никола́евич Ефре́мов, 1 October 1927, Moscow, Soviet Union – 24 May 2000, Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet and Russian actor and Moscow Art Theatre producer. He was a People's Art ...
, and Leonid Dyachkov auditioned for the part of Gosha. However, none of them convinced the director to take them, and he even wanted to play the main character himself, until he saw Aleksey Batalov in the film ''My Dear Man'' on television.
* It was also difficult to find someone apt for the part of Katerina. Many well known actresses such as
Anastasiya Vertinskaya
Anastasiya Alexandrovna Vertinskaya (russian: link=no, Анастасия Александровна Вертинская, born 19 December 1944, Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian actress, who came to prominence in the early 1960s ...
,
Zhanna Bolotova
Zhanna Andreyevna Bolotova (russian: Жанна Андреевна Болотова; October 10, 1941, Novosibirsk Oblast, USSR) is a Soviet film actress who was popular in the 1970s and the early 1980s. In 1977 she became a USSR State Prize laurea ...
Natalya Sayko
Natalya Petrovna Saiko (russian: Наталья Петровна Сайко, born 12 January 1948) is a Soviet and Russian actress. She appeared in more than thirty films since 1969.
Selected filmography
* ''Confrontation'' (Противосто ...
Margarita Terekhova
Margarita Borisovna Terekhova (russian: Маргари́та Бори́совна Те́рехова; born August 25, 1942 in Turinsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian SFSR) is a Soviet and Russian film and theatre actress. She was awarded the title ...
auditioned for the part, but most of them did not like the script, so the part eventually went to the director’s wife, Vera Alentova.
Songs from the film
* ''
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
Yves Montand
Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer.
Early life
Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held stron ...
* '' Besame Mucho''
* Satirical couplets ("The Diplomatic Couplets") from c.1954 by Pavel Rudakov and Veniamin Nechaev
* '' Daddy Cool'' by
Boney M
Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...
* ''Давай закурим'' (''Let's take a smoke'') by
Klavdiya Shulzhenko
Klavdiya Ivanovna Shulzhenko (russian: Кла́вдия Ива́новна Шульже́нко, uk, Клавдія Іванівна Шульженко; – June 17, 1984) was a Soviet popular female singer and actress.
Biography
Shulzhenko ...
* ''Александра'' (''Aleksandra'') by Sergey Nikitin and Tatyana Nikitina
* ''Диалог у новогодней ёлки'' (''Dialogue by the New Year tree'') by Sergey Nikitin and Tatyana Nikitina
See also
*
List of submissions to the 53rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of submissions to the 53rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honour non-English-speaking films ...
Mosfilm
Mosfilm (russian: Мосфильм, ''Mosfil’m'' ) is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output inclu ...