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''Intergirl'' (, translit. ''Interdevochka'') is a 1989
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
-
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
. It is set in
Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
in the time of
perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
during the 1980s. The film was the most popular Soviet film in 1989 (41.3 million viewers) and made a star of leading actress
Elena Yakovleva Elena Alexeevna Yakovleva (; born 5 March 1961) is a Soviet and Russian actress known for her roles in such films as '' Intergirl'' and '' Encore, Once More Encore!'' as well as for the main role in the popular TV-series ''Kamenskaya''. She ...
. It is the screen adaptation of the eponymous story by
Vladimir Kunin Vladimir Vladimirovich Kunin (Владимир Владимирович Кунин) (actually Vladimir Feinberg, 19 June 1927, Leningrad - 4 February 2011, Munich) was a Russian writer, playwright and screenwriter. Kunin was a member of the Union o ...
.


Plot

Tanya Zaitseva from
Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, a
nurse Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...
by day and a
prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
catering to foreigners by night, suddenly receives a marriage proposal from a Swedish client. Her closest friends in the trade, former volleyball athlete Sima Gulliver nicknamed Kisulya, a Baltic beauty, and the gorgeous Zina Meleiko, are considered the elite of prostitutes. After another altercation with the police, she goes home to share good news with her mother, who thinks that her daughter is just a nurse. Tanya does not hide the fact that she is not marrying for love, but because she wants to have an apartment, a car, money and dreams "to see the world with my own eyes." In a conversation with her mother she argues that prostitution is characteristic of all trades, "everyone sell themselves", but her mother cannot accept it. Tanya's former client and now fiancé, Edvard Larsen, is a pass for Tanya to the Western world of dreams. However, the Soviet bureaucracy gets in the way: there are some requirements to get a visa to Sweden. She needs to receive a permission for immigration from her father, whom she has not seen for 20 years. He demands 3,000 rubles in exchange for the paperwork - a lot of money - which forces Tanya back into prostitution. Sweden very quickly bores the heroine. She makes friends with a Russian truck driver working for " Sovtransavto", through whom she sends gifts to her mother in Leningrad. Her Swedish "friends" never forget how Tanya earned in the USSR. Ed really loves his wife, but always makes comments about her habits. Tanya is an alien in a foreign world. She is homesick and wants to visit her mother. Meanwhile, Tanya's prostitute friend mentions during a conversation over the phone that they opened case on "illegal foreign currency speculation" on Tanya (a serious crime in the Soviet Union that carried severe penalties). Investigators come to Tanya's mother and reveal the secrets of her daughter's high earnings. Shocked and morally broken by this, Tanya's mother commits suicide by gassing herself to death in her apartment. Skein, a neighbor of Tanya, smells gas at the apartment and bursts in, knocking out the window. She pulls her out from the apartment and tries to revive her, but to no avail. She knocking on the neighbors' doors for help. At this moment in Sweden, Tanya looks back and her intuition tells her that something bad has happened. In panic, she abandons her lover and jumps into the car. Racing to the airport, she is killed in a car accident. The drama of the final episode is reinforced by the Russian folk song "Tramp" ("In the wild steppes of
Transbaikal Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykal'ye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal at the south side of the eastern Si ...
..."), which is the leitmotif of the film.


Cast

*
Elena Yakovleva Elena Alexeevna Yakovleva (; born 5 March 1961) is a Soviet and Russian actress known for her roles in such films as '' Intergirl'' and '' Encore, Once More Encore!'' as well as for the main role in the popular TV-series ''Kamenskaya''. She ...
as Tanya Zaytseva * Tomas Laustiola as Edvard Larsen, Tanya Zaytseva's husband (voice by Aleksandr Belyavsky) * Larisa Malevannaya as Alla Sergeyevna Zaytseva, Tanya's mother *
Anastasiya Nemolyaeva Anastasiya Nikolaevna Nemolyaevahttp://www.kinopoisk.ru/ /name/273013/ (; was born 30 June 1969) is a Soviet and Russian film and theater actress and designer. Biography Anastasiya Nemolyaeva was born June 30, 1969, in Moscow into the family of a ...
as Lyalya, nurse, Tanya's friend *
Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė (born 20 January 1963) is а Lithuanian actress and television presenter. Known for both her screen and stage performances, she has gained recognition for featuring in films such as ''Burnt by the Sun'' (1994) and '' Katya ...
as Kisulya, prostitute *
Lyubov Polishchuk Lyubov Grigoryevna Polishchuk (; 21 May 1949 – 28 November 2006) was a popular Russian actress. She was born in the Siberian city of Omsk. After school she decided to become an actress and moved to Moscow. She made her debut in cinema in 197 ...
as Zina Meleyko, prostitute *
Irina Rozanova Irina Yurievna Rozanova (; born 22 July 1961) is a Russian actress. She has appeared in more than 80 films and television shows since 1985. In 2008 she was a member of the jury at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival. Biography Rozanova w ...
as Sima Gulliver, prostitute * Natalia Shchukina as Natalya «Schoolgirl», prostitute * Martinsh Vilsons as Victor, trucker *
Vsevolod Shilovsky Vsevolod Nikolaevich Shilovsky (; born 3 June 1938, Moscow ) is a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor, film director, People's Artist of the RSFSR (1986). He was awarded the Order of Friendship (1997) and the Order of Honour (Russia), Orde ...
as Nikolay Platonovich Zaytsev, Tanya's father *
Zinovy Gerdt Zalman Afroimovich Khrapinovich (21 September 191618 November 1996), known by the pseudonym Zinovy Yefimovich Gerdt, was a Soviet and Russian actor. He was awarded the People's Artist of the USSR in 1990. Biography Early life and education Ger ...
as Boris Semenovich, chief medical officer * Valeriy Khromushkin as Volodya, union organizer of hospital * Maria Vinogradova as Sergeevna, nurse * Igor Vetrov as Anatoliy A. Kudryavtsev, police captain *
Gennady Sidorov Gennady ( rus, Геннадий, p=ɡʲɪˈnadʲɪj), also transcribed Gennadi or Gennadiy, is a Russian male name. It is derived from the Greek given name Γεννάδιος (Gennadios), latinized Gennadius. People * Gennady Dobrokhotov, Soviet ...
as Zhenya, police lieutenant * Tatyana Agafonova as Verka, former Moscow prostitute living in Sweden *
Torsten Wahlund Thorsten (Thorstein, Torstein, Torsten) is a Scandinavian given name. The Old Norse name was ''Þórsteinn''. It is a compound of the theonym ''Þór'' (''Thor'') and ''steinn'' "stone", which became ''Thor'' and ''sten'' in Old Danish and Old Swe ...
as Gunvald, Edvard Larsen's co-worker * Sergey Bekhterev as waiter *
Anna Frolovtseva Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th c ...
as FRRO employee * Mintai Utepbergenov as Japanese businessman (voice by Aleksei Zolotnitsky) *
Igor Efimov Igor Markovich Yefimov or Igor Efimov (Russian: И́горь Ма́ркович Ефи́мов; August 8, 1937 – August 12, 2020) was an American philosopher, historian, writer and publisher of Russian origin. Some of his works were published und ...
as hotel janitor


Production

As confirmed later by the director, he was ordered to make this film by the officials. Todorovsky had been chosen precisely for his inability to direct 'hot' content. Yakovleva refused 'messing around with men' in front of the camera, so all sex scenes were filmed without a partner. The feature's main purpose was to demonstrate the Soviet audience how misleading was a hope for a "beautiful Western life". As the Swedish partners found the ending too desperate, for Sweden Todorovsky made a version with an open ending and merged the two episodes into one. However, the film was never released in Sweden due to the bankruptcy of Stallet-film, Mosfilm's co-production partner. Filming took place in the summer of 1989 in Russia and Sweden. Mira Todorovska managed to attract Swedish sponsors who added the lacking money and helped with the filming, as movie became
Mosfilm Mosfilm (, ''Mosfil’m'' , initialism and portmanteau of Moscow Films) is a film studio in Moscow 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 fi ...
's first movie shot without state funding. Since it was virtually impossible to buy any fancy clothing in the USSR, the costume designer flew to Sweden to buy not only evening dresses, but even plain jeans.


Reception and awards

''Intergirl'' was the first depiction of a prostitute in Soviet pop culture. The word itself entered the Russian language and came to refer to all prostitutes serving foreigners. The film became the most popular Soviet film in 1989 with 41.3 million viewers, the leading actress
Elena Yakovleva Elena Alexeevna Yakovleva (; born 5 March 1961) is a Soviet and Russian actress known for her roles in such films as '' Intergirl'' and '' Encore, Once More Encore!'' as well as for the main role in the popular TV-series ''Kamenskaya''. She ...
immediately became a star. Described as the 'Cinderella with a darker twist', despite audience sympathy, the film received a lot of criticism, primarily for its pessimism and focus on the ugly side of life without really showing the hardships of the protagonist's reality. The movie won three awards and received one nomination. Elena Yakovleva won Best Actress at the 1990
Nika Awards The Nika Award (sometimes styled NIKA Award) is the main annual national film award in Russia, presented by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science, and seen as the national equivalent of the Oscars. In 2022 nominees were announced, b ...
. At the 1989
Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. According to the FIAPF, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals and the second largest film festival in Asia behind the ...
, Intergirl won the Special Jury Prize with Yakovleva receiving the Best Actress Award.


References


Literature

* * * * *


External links

*
''Intergirl''
at Movie.ru (archived) {{Pyotr Todorovsky 1989 films Mosfilm films Films about prostitution in Russia 1980s Russian-language films 1989 in the Soviet Union Films directed by Pyotr Todorovsky Prostitution in Russia Films set in Saint Petersburg Films set in Sweden Soviet multilingual films Swedish multilingual films Films about nurses