''July Rain'' () is a 1967 Soviet

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 ...

directed by

Marlen Khutsiev Marlen Martynovich Khutsiev (4 October 192519 March 2019) was a Georgian-born Soviet and Russian filmmaker best known for his cult films from the 1960s, which include '' I Am Twenty'' and '' July Rain''. He was named a People's Artist of the US ...

. ''July Rain'' is story about the rather boring life of 28-year old Lena, her mother, her longterm boyfriend Volodya and their intellectual friends - and Zhenya, the stranger she has occasional telephone conversations with since he once lent her his jacket during a heavy rain.

Plot

Lena, a translator at a printing house, is engaged to Volodya, a promising scientist. Over several months, their lives unfold from a summer rainstorm to late autumn, marked by social gatherings and personal challenges. During a downpour, a passerby named Zhenya lends Lena his raincoat, leading to a series of missed opportunities for them to meet again. Meanwhile, Volodya struggles with self-doubt after his research is stolen by a professor, and Lena faces pressure from her mother to marry. The couple navigates shared experiences, such as a modern-style party and a countryside picnic, where discussions of betrayal and ambition deepen their reflections. As autumn progresses, Lena's father dies, casting a shadow over her life. Despite a vacation by the sea, where Volodya proposes, Lena grows disillusioned and rejects the engagement, signaling a shift in her priorities. Their relationship ends as Lena reevaluates her future. The film closes on a bittersweet note with a reunion of war veterans outside the Bolshoi Theatre, offering a brief glimpse of joy amid the changes in their lives.

Cast

* Yevgenia Uralova as Lena * Aleksandr Belyavsky as Volodya *

Yuri Vizbor Yuri Iosifovich Vizbor (June 20, 1934September 17, 1984) was a Soviet bard and poet as well as a theatre and film actor. Vizbor was born in Moscow where he lived for most of his life. He worked as a teacher, a soldier, a sailor, a radio and pre ...

as Alik * Yevgenia Kozyreva as Lena's Mother *

Alexander Mitta Alexander Naumovich Mitta (; born 28 March 1933 in Moscow) is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter and actor. Mitta's birth name was Alexander Naumovich Rabinovich (). He studied engineering (graduated in 1955), then wor ...

as Vladik * Alla Pokrovskaya as Lelya Kurikhina * Valentina Sharykina as Lyusya * Ilya Bylinkin as Zhenya (as I. Bylinkin) *

Yuri Ilchuk Yuri may refer to: People Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), feminine Japanese given names, including a list o ...

as Leva

Style

Just like Khutsiev's previous film, '' I am Twenty'', ''July Rain'' is heavily inspired by the

French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...

, with its combination of realism, subjectivity, discontinuous editing and long takes. It has also often been described as the Soviet version of an Antonioni film. The story about Lena and her friends is interspersed with long documentary scenes from Moscow. The film can be seen as a declaration of love to Moscow and its younger generation, and was possibly Khutsiev's angry response to the heavy criticism he encountered from

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

for '' I am Twenty'' and its portrayal of Soviet youth worrying about money and jobs and listening to Western music. Although ''I am Twenty'' won a prize at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

, the Soviet authorities refused to send ''July Rain'' to Venice when it was invited to participate.

References

External links

* 1967 drama films 1967 films Soviet drama films Russian-language drama films Films directed by Marlen Khutsiev Mosfilm films Soviet black-and-white films 1960s Soviet films 1960s Russian-language films {{1960s-USSR-film-stub