Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears

Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears
Poster for USA promotion.
Directed by	Vladimir Menshov
Written by	Valentin Chernykh
Starring	Vera Alentova Irina Muravyova Aleksey Batalov Natalya Vavilova Raisa Ryazanova Oleg Tabakov Leonid Kharitonov
Music by	Sergey Nikitin
Cinematography	Igor Slabnevich
Edited by	Yelena Mikhajlova
Production company	Mosfilm
Running time	140 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Russian: Москва слезам не верит; translit. Moskva slezam ne verit) is a 1980 Soviet film made by Mosfilm. It was written by Valentin Chernykh and directed by Vladimir Menshov. The leading roles were played by Vera Alentova and by Aleksey Batalov. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980.

The film is set in Moscow in 1958 and 1979. The plot centers on three young women who come to Moscow from smaller towns: Katerina, Lyudmila, and Antonina. They are placed together in a workers' dormitory apartment and eventually become friends. Antonina is seeing Nikolai, a reserved but kind young man whose parents have a dacha in the country. Katerina (Vera Alentova) is a serious, upstanding woman who strives to earn her chemistry degree while working at a factory. She is asked to house-sit an apartment for her well-to-do Moscow relatives (a famous professor's family) while they are away on a trip. Lyudmila (Irina Muravyova), a flirty go-getter looking for a well-to-do husband while working at a bakery, convinces her to throw a dinner party at the apartment, and pretend that they are the daughters of Katerina's professor uncle, as a ploy to meet successful Muscovite men. At the party, Lyudmila meets Sergei, a famous hockey player, who falls in love with her and marries her even after discovering the truth about her origin. Katerina meets Rudolf (Yuri Vasilyev), a smooth talker who works as a cameraman for a television channel. He charms Katerina and then forces himself onto her. During Antonina and Nikolai's wedding, Lyudmila and Antonina find out that Katerina is pregnant. Upon discovering that Katerina is not the daughter of a professor, Rudolf refuses to marry her and believes that she is going to abort the fetus. Rudolf's mother stops by Katerina and Lyudmila's room in workers' dormitory to tell Katerina to stop bothering her son and offers her money, which Katerina refuses. Katerina finds out that it was actually Lyudmila who was calling Rudolf's mother pretending she was Katerina to demand child support. This leaves Katerina alone with the baby.