Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears – Old good Russian movie

Continuing our series of articles about Russian films that are worth seeing, today we bring to your attention a melodrama “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears”.

The movie was made by a famous Russian movie director Vladimir Menshov and came out in 1979. In 1981 it was awarded the Oscar in the nomination “The Best Film in a Foreign Language” and the State Prize of the USSR.

The plot of the story unfolds in late 1950s. Three girlfriends, each about 18-19 years old, came to Moscow looking for happiness, love and prosperity and now live in a hostel. Purposeful Katerina did not get enough points to be admitted to the university and now works at a factory. Simple and shy Antonina got a job as a painter at a construction site and married a working Muscovite. The most adventurous of the three, Lyudmila, believes that in Moscow her special fate (a wealthy man) awaits her.

At some moment Ludmila involves Katerina in an adventure for which Katerina has to pay bitterly after: at a party in a professor’s house where her and Lyudmila temporary live, she meets and falls in love with a handsome cameraman Rodion, and when it turns out that Katerina is pregnant and, on top of that, she is not a professor’s daughter but a simple factory worker, the weak-minded Rodion does as his mom says and dumps her. The story continues 20 years after: Lyudmila gets divorced, Antonina is living a happy life, and Katerina raises a daughter alone and becomes director of the factory where she worked. This is when life allows her to meet her true love.

The film shows life itself, with problems inherent not only in Russia (USSR back then) but in the whole world. The brilliant play of actors allows you to fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the film and empathize with the characters.

Thanks to Mosfilm, you can enjoy this movie today absolutely for free:

– Version with English subtitles
– Version with multiple subtitles: part 1, part 2