Office Romance – An unusual love story
Today we bring to your attention another favorite movie of many Russians – Office Romance.
This lyrical comedy in two series directed by Eldar Razyanov was released in 1977, and in 1978 became the leader of Soviet film distribution.
The story of the film happened to the staff of Moscow Statistical Office in the late 70s of the last century. Anatoly Yefremovich Novoseltsev is a forty year old divorced man working as a senior statistician. He raises two boys alone and never has enough money. By the nature of his character, Anatoly Yefremovich is a quiet and modest man, so he never dared to ask the director (called by the employees “Mymra” – gloomy, taciturn woman) for a promotion. However, a new deputy director Yuriy Grigorievich Samokhvalov – old friend of Novoseltsev – suddenly appears in the organization. Yuriy Grigorievich is an imposing man who just returned from abroad where he worked for a long time.
Having learned about the troubles of his friend, Yuriy without hesitation suggests to Mymra to promote Novoseltsev and make him the head of the light industry department. However, Lyudmila Prokofyevna (mymra) had not been impressed by Novoseltsev’s work before, so she immediately cut off the suggestion. Then the old comrades suggests a cunning approach – Novoseltsev should make Mymra fall in love with him and then she would give him a promotion. So begins an incredibly funny and captivating office romance!
The whole story develops on the background of the vigorous, funny and frightening life of the collective of the statistical institution in which the characters work. This is a prototype of the endless Soviet scientific research institutes and design bureaus, where there were hundreds of employees but far from all worked to their fullest. There was always time for gossips and intrigues.
“Office Romance” is in many ways similar to Eldar Ryazanov’s other film “Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!”. Not only because the main character was again played by Andrei Myagkov and that this hero is again an ordinary “person from the crowd”. Like “The Irony of Fate”, “Office Romance” is a fairy tale with a happy ending and played out in absolutely realistic scenery of the Soviet everyday life. Viewers love Ryazanov because he knows the lives of his contemporaries and gives them hope for a miracle. A tired loser left by his wife can turn into an admirer, and Mymra into a funny beauty. Single people, each with their own life drama, allow themselves to try again to believe in love – and win!
You can watch the movie for free on YouTube, with Russian, English, French and Turkish subtitles:
Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-1QGMK75c
Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUNy3NrxZAc
