15 great Soviet melodramas that will make you believe in love

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Classics of the genre from Eldar Ryazanov and Vladimir Menshov, favorite comedies and even a film about the war.

15. Once again about love

• USSR, 1968.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 96 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

Flight attendant Natasha meets physicist Electron Evdokimov. Feelings flare up between them. But the heroes are strikingly different from each other in character and perception of life, and therefore the relationship does not develop immediately.

Director Georgy Natanson took as a basis the play "104 Pages About Love" by Edward Radzinsky. Moreover, the author agreed to personally adapt his work to the script. 34 years later, a new film adaptation of “Sky. Airplane. Girl "with Renata Litvinova. Still, most people prefer the classic version.

14. The most charming and attractive

• USSR, 1985.
• Melodrama, comedy.
• Duration: 81 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

Lonely Nadya Klyueva works as an engineer at a research institute and cannot establish her personal life in any way. A former classmate and now a sociologist, Susanna offers her help: she draws up questionnaires, dresses her friend in fashionable clothes and explains how to behave with men. But it turns out that science is not good for the search for love.

Irina Muravyova for a long time refused a role in this film. He seemed to the actress too frivolous, and she was looking for more thoughtful and serious pictures. However, the novice director Gerald Bezhanov persuaded Muravyova to take on the main role. And the image of Nadya Klyueva is rightfully considered one of the brightest works of the actress.

13. Five evenings

• USSR, 1979.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 108 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

Alexander Ilyin returns for several days to the city where he lived before the war. He comes to visit the girl he once loved. It would seem that long-forgotten feelings flare up with renewed vigor. But the life of both heroes has changed a long time ago.

This picture was staged by Nikita Mikhalkov based on the play of the same name by Alexander Volodin. The director chose a very unusual visual style: most of the action is painted in brown tones, like an old photograph. And only towards the end, the life of the heroes is filled with color.

12. Spring on Zarechnaya Street

• USSR, 1956.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 90 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

A graduate of the Pedagogical Institute Tatyana Levchenko gets a job as a teacher in an evening school. In her class, the drummer of labor and the favorite of girls, Alexander Savchenko, is studying. He falls in love with a young teacher, but at first Tatiana does not reciprocate.

Before this film, actress Nina Ivanova did not even think about a career in cinema. Even at the age of seven, she played in the film “Once upon a time there was a girl,” but did not act again and after school entered the medical institute. Ivanova returned to the cinema almost by accident: a friend from VGIK invited her to star in her thesis. Soon after that, Marlen Khutsiev offered the actress the lead role in Spring on Zarechnaya Street.

11. Old-fashioned comedy

• USSR, 1980.
• Melodrama, comedy.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

The head physician of one of the sanatoriums in the Baltic states summons a patient because she has violated the regime. At first, their communication consists only of disputes and conflicts, but gradually develops into mutual sympathy.

This film is more like a teleplay: there are only two main actors, and the action is built exclusively on dialogues. But the magnificent performance of Alisa Freundlich and Igor Vladimirov makes you instantly forget about the simplicity of filming.

10. Three poplars on Plyushchikha

• USSR, 1968.
• Melodrama.
• Duration: 79 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

Nyura, a married mother of two, travels from the village to Moscow. A silent intelligent driver picks her up. Fellow travelers become attached to each other and slightly change their views on life.

Many people remember this picture thanks to the magnificent song "Tenderness" by Alexandra Pakhmutova on the verses of Sergei Grebennikov and Nikolai Dobronravov. In the film, it is first sung by Tatyana Doronina, and in the finale, the composition is performed by Maya Kristalinskaya.

9. Station for two

• USSR, 1982.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 141 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

Prisoner of a correctional labor colony in Siberia Platon Ryabinin recalls an unusual moment from his past: once he was stuck for several days at the station, because a new acquaintance accidentally took away his passport. The hero met the barmaid Vera: their communication began with a scandal and the police, but then grew into a crush.

Eldar Ryazanov wrote the script for this film together with Emil Braginsky. And he also composed poems for the title song "Do not be afraid to change your life." The director was embarrassed to tell the composer of the picture Andrei Petrov about this, so he passed the text off as a work by the famous poet David Samoilov. Ryazanov did this more than once: he attributed his poem to the song from "Office Romance" to William Blake, and to the song from "Cruel Romance" - to Junna Moritz.

8. Autumn marathon

• USSR, 1979.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 89 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

A talented teacher and translator Andrei Buzykin cannot improve his personal life. This is because he is too indecisive. Buzykin will not dare to part with his wife and go to a girl in love with him. He cannot even deny his guest a joint run, and his neighbor - to drink vodka with him. By his behavior, the hero destroys his own life.

It is ironic that Natalya Gundareva, who played Buzykin's wife, is actually a year younger than Maria Neyolova, who played the role of his young mistress. That's what talent and reincarnation mean.

7. You never dreamed …

• USSR, 1981.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 90 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

Young Katya and her family are moving to another area. At school, she meets Roma and falls in love with him. But the parents are getting in the way of romantic relationships between teenagers. Once Roma's father was in love with Katya's mother, and now his wife is jealous.

The plot of the film is based on the story of the same name by Galina Shcherbakova. True, in the original the heroes were called Roman and Julia, but the officials from the State Film Agency did not like the direct analogy with Romeo and Juliet, so the girl's name had to be changed.

6. Cruel romance

• USSR, 1984.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 137 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 0.

It is time for Larisa Ogudalova, a homeless woman from a poor family, to get married. She agrees to the proposal of not the most prominent gentleman Yuliy Karandyshev. But right before the wedding, Larisa's former lover Sergey Paratov comes to the city.

In 1936 Yakov Protazanov already transferred the classic play by Alexander Ostrovsky "The Dowry" to the screen. But Eldar Ryazanov was able to make the story more vivid and memorable. Excellent actors and a great soundtrack by Andrey Petrov also helped.

5. Girls

• USSR, 1962.
• Melodrama, comedy.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 0.

The naive and energetic Tosya Kislitsyna goes to a Siberian village to work as a cook. At the dances, she makes fun of the local handsome Ilya Kovrigin. In response, he decides to conquer the girl's heart to an argument.

Of course, "Girls" is, first of all, a great comedy. But there are enough classic melodramatic twists in the film. At the very least, there is a story of sincere love that is born from a daring bet.

4. Moscow does not believe in tears

• USSR, 1980.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 150 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

Three provincial friends come to Moscow in search of happiness. 20 years later, Katerina becomes the director of the plant and raises her daughter alone. One day she meets the locksmith George.

The attitude of viewers to the beloved of the main character has changed over the years. At first, George was considered almost the standard of masculinity, and then he turned into a vivid example of a toxic attitude towards women. But be that as it may, the film was staged very emotionally, and the characters turned out to be bright and charming.

3. Love and doves

• USSR, 1985.
• Melodrama, comedy.
• Duration: 107 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

The father of two children, Vasily Kuzyakin, loves to tinker with pigeons, for which his wife constantly drives him. Helping his comrades to repair the winch, he gets injured, and as compensation, the management gives him a ticket to a sanatorium. There he meets the educated and effective Raisa Zakharovna.

And another great comedy. In this film, even the theme of parting is presented in a parody key, but still it is impossible not to worry about the characters. Interestingly, the script is based on the real story of Vasily Kuzyakin, who lived in the city of Cheremkhovo, the homeland of screenwriter Vladimir Gurkin.

2. Office romance

• USSR, 1977.
• Melodrama, drama, comedy.
• Duration: 159 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

A timid employee of the Moscow statistical office, Anatoly Efremovich Novoseltsev, dreams of a promotion, but does not dare to directly ask the harsh director Lyudmila Prokofievna Kalugina, who was nicknamed Mymra behind her back. A friend advises him to have an affair with his boss, but Novoseltsev is terribly inexperienced in romantic courtship.

Eldar Ryazanov's painting is based on his theatrical play. At the same time, the director himself claimed that the famous feast scene at Kalugin's house was mainly built on the improvisation of actors.

1. Cranes are flying

• USSR, 1957.
• Melodrama, drama, military.
• Duration: 95 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

Boris and Veronica love each other and plan to get married. But the beginning of the war ruins their plans. Boris volunteered for the front and disappears, and Veronica is trying to improve her life.

An incredibly beautiful picture by Mikhail Kalatozov won the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, of course, does not fit into the framework of the usual melodrama. It is an emotional and controversial story that seems daring even after many years, and the filming is still amazing.