Irony of Fate

Irony of Fate
Theatrical release poster.
Written by	Emil Braginsky Eldar Ryazanov
Directed by	Eldar Ryazanov
Starring	Andrey Myagkov Barbara Brylska Yuri Yakovlev
Theme music composer	Mikael Tariverdiev
Country of origin	Soviet Union
Original language(s)	Russian
No. of episodes	2
Production
Producer(s)	Evgeny Golynsky
Running time	184 minutes
Production company(s)	Mosfilm
Release
Original network	Programme One
Original release	1 January 1976
Chronology
Followed by	The Irony of Fate 2

The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (Russian: Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!, literally: The Irony of Fate, or With Light Steam; trans. Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!) is a 1976 Soviet romantic comedy television film directed by Eldar Ryazanov. The screenplay was written by Emil Braginsky and Ryazanov, loosely based on the director's 1971 play Once on New Year's Eve (Russian: Однажды в новогоднюю ночь). The film was filmed in 1975 at the Mosfilm Studios. Doubling as a screwball comedy and a love story tinged with sadness, it is one of the most successful Soviet television productions and remains highly popular in modern Russia.

The key subplot is the drab uniformity of Brezhnev era public architecture. This is made explicit in a humorous animated prologue, in which architects are overruled by politicians and red tape. This results in the entire country being polluted with identical, unimaginative multistory apartment buildings of the sort that can, in fact, be found in every city, town, and suburb across the former Soviet Union. These buildings are uniform right down to the door key of each apartment. The rest of the film is live-action.

Following their annual tradition, a group of friends meet at a banya (a traditional public "sauna" bath) in Moscow to celebrate New Year's Eve. The friends all get very drunk toasting the upcoming marriage of the central male character, Zhenya Lukashin (Andrei Myagkov) to Galya (Olga Naumenko). After the bath, one of the friends, Pavlik (Aleksandr Shirvindt), has to catch a plane to Leningrad; Zhenya, on the other hand, is supposed to go home to celebrate New Year's Eve with his fiancée. Both Zhenya and Pavlik pass out. The remaining friends cannot remember which person from their group is supposed to catch the plane. They mistakenly send Zhenya on the plane instead of Pavlik.