

Five Soviet love stories that'll make you laugh, cry, and question your own romantic choices.
Acting
Lyudmila Gurchenko's devastation in 12 minutes flat
Writing
Five complete arcs, zero fat, all heartbreak

Director
Naum Birman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Birman made this during the Brezhnev stagnation, when Soviet cinema briefly tolerated ambiguous endings and unsympathetic women. The censors missed the subversion entirely.
Gurchenko filmed her entire segment in one day between circus performances. That trembling lip? Genuine exhaustion, not technique.