A Cruel Romance
| A Cruel Romance | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Eldar Ryazanov |
| Starring |
Alisa Freindlich Larisa Guzeeva Nikita Mikhalkov Andrey Myagkov Aleksei Petrenko Viktor Proskurin |
| Music by | Andrey Petrov |
| Cinematography | Vadim Alisov |
|
Release date
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1984 |
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Running time
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142 minutes |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
A Cruel Romance (Russian: Жестокий романс) is a 1984 Russian drama film directed by Eldar Ryazanov. It is the second and best known screen version of Alexander Ostrovsky's classic play Without a Dowry (1878). The main female role was played by russian actress Larisa Guzeyeva, for whom this was a debut at the cinema.
The film was shot on location in the Upper Volga region, including Kostroma. It features a set of Russian romances written by Bella Akhmadulina, Marina Tsvetaeva and Eldar Ryazanov, composed by Andrey Petrov and Nina Shatskaya and performed by Valentina Ponomaryova. These songs have gained widespread popularity in Russia.
The action is set on the bank of the Volga River in a fictional town of Bryakhimov in 1877-1878. The two episodes of the movie differ chronologycally: the events shown in the first episode last for almost one year, whereas the second episode shows events of less than one day, and the culmination of the whole story takes place in the second episode.
Kharita Ignatyevna Ogudalova - is a noblewoman from very respected family, a widow with three marriageable daughter. She has become poor after her husband's death, but she is trying to do everything possible to make the lives of her daughters better, which means to help them happily marry rich and noble men. Because of her lack of finances, she keeps her house opened, hoping that the company of her three beautiful music-loving daughters will attract many single and rich men who could marry these girls.
The movie starts with a wedding scene. The bride is Olga Dmitrievna Ogudalova, who is going to marry an impoverished nobleman from Tiflis. Her sister Anna had already been married to a citizen of Monte Carlo and she had lived with him in there until her husband was caught cheating. Since then her mother - Kharita Ignatyevna Ogudalove - has to please the rich men and ask them for money so that she could send it to her daughter. She also has another reason to worry - her youngest daughter Larisa is not married. Although she is clearly the object of sympathy of the richest man in Bryakhimov - Mokiy Parmenovich Knurov. However, he is in his ages and already married, therefore, he can't be considered as a future spouse. But Kharita Ignatyevna doesn't hesitate to accept his gifts and money for her daughter.
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