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
Lyudmila Gurchenko
Valentina Stepanovna
Nikolai Volkov Ml.
Igor Anatolevich
Andrei Popov
Captain
Elena Tsyplakova
Lida
Georgiy Vitsin
Man
Lyudmila Ivanova
Taxiwomen
Vera Titova
Barmaid
Evgeni Leonov
Serafim
Valentina Vladimirova
Serafim's wife
Yelena Solovey
Tatyana
Semyon Morozov
Helpmate
Valentina Telegina
Nanny
Lev Durov
Georgi Dmitriyevich
Vladimir Basov
Streshnikov
Valentina Titova
Streshnikova
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.
SU
