Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Москва слезам не верит)

MOSFILM

Second Artists' Association

VERA ALENTOVA

ALEXEI BATALOV

IRINA MURAVYOVA RAISSA RYAZANOVA

in

MOSCOW DOESN'T BELIEVE IN TEARS

Screenplay by Valentin CHERNYKH

Directed by Vladimir MENSHOV

Director of Photography Igor SLABNEVICH

Production Designer Said MENYALSHCHIKOV

Music by Sergey NIKITIN

Lyrics by D. SUKHAREV

Yu. VIZBOR, Yu. LEVITANSKY

Sound by M. BRONSHTEIN Conductor E. KHACHATURIAN

Moscow. 1958

Workers' Dormitory

- You failed? - I missed by two points.

- Have you checked the list? - I have. I'm not on it.

Don't give up. You'll work and study at night,

and next year you'll make it for sure...

Look who is here!

Don't look so depressed, Katerina.

I'm not depressed.

- Just two points! - I'll make it no matter what.

No one said you wouldn't. After all, 35 is the age limit.

You got plenty of time, believe me.

Couldn't you at least clean up your face?

Kolia'll be here any minute. He's taking me to watch a concert.

To watch a concert! After two years in Moscow you can't talk properly.

- Don't come in! - Come in, please!

- Hi!.. - Good evening.

- You're not well? - You made me blush all over.

I'm sorry.

- Want to have a look? - No, thanks.

Kolia! I'll be ready in a second!

Why d'you have to frighten him? You know, he's so shy.

Yeah, you wouldn't call him an intellectual.

You could have found a dunce like him at home in your village.

What were you so scared of? It was a strawberry beauty mask.

Don't forget, the doors are locked after twelve.

We'll be back in time. We're going to watch a concert.

To watch a concert! And you call yourself a Muscovite!

Women's dormitory.

Which Ludmilla? There're Ludmillas by the dozens here.

Oh, that Ludmilla...

Just a minute. She's taking a bath right now.

Sviridova, telephone for you!

She'll be right with you. She's in the middle of drying off.

I said you were taking a bath.

Vadik? Of course, I remember.

What dormitory? Oh, that's our granny. She's a great joker.

Some cousins came to visit

and now she's complaining that our place is like a dormitory.

Everyone wants to come to Moscow, but we can't live like sardines.

Today? No, I can't. It's daddy's birthday.

Tomorrow? I'd better call you back. I'll be in class all day.

- Dormitory! - What else should I say?

- Why don't you just say "hello"? - Hello? How was I supposed to know?

Fate flies like a rocket in one huge parabola,

Sometimes along a rainbow, but mostly in the pitch-dark cupola.

There lived a red-headed artist, well-known as Gauguin.

A Bohemian, though he started as a two-bit salesman.

To end up in the Louvre, originating in Montmartre,

He made a detour via Java and Sumatra.

He rocketed, forgetting the madness of money...

What's he trying to say?

After five years of slaving, buried in textbooks,

you're supposed to go in a factory? What kind of life is that?

What kind of life do you want?

Stop necking on the street. You're in a public place.

This chemistry of yours is so boring. Nothing but formulas.

You don't understand. Chemistry's the future of mankind.

You should be thinking more about your present.

- Hey, girls, what about... - Get lost, will you.

Why did you do that? They look nice to me.

That's right, just nice. In Moscow on a quota, just like us.

To love no less than a queen, to lose no less than a million.

French Film Festival

Ever seen a mink like that?

I love her! It's Koniukhova!

That's what I call life!

Look! Youmatov!

Why are you out here?

Nina was supposed to bring me an invitation...

Wait. I'll try to get you in.

- Are you an actor too? - Yeah, just a beginner though.

- A bit late to be getting started. - What's your name?

You probably never heard of me.

- Tell me anyway. - Smoktunovsky.

Oh! Kharitonov!

- You fixed it all by yourself? - Can't wait all day for the adjusters.

Their work load's too big, you know.

Pretty good. pretty good.

Tossia, mother wants you to come to our country place

on Sunday.

Why don't you say something?

- I'm not sure if I should. - Why not?

Can't you see she's scared?

- Scared of what? - Just scared.

In that case, why don't you ask your roommates to come with you?

The fresh air will do them some good.

Sviridova, when are you going to pay your union dues?

Do you know how much you owe us?

Look, why don't you leave her alone?

Stop playing the tough guy.

Sviridova, stop wrecking my nervous system.

Do I have to get down on my knees?

Oh, I'm really beat today.

- Liuda, are you coming? - In a second.

- Ludmilla, aren't you ready yet? - Ready.

Isn't she just beautiful?

- Ludmilla, where are you going? - I'm in a hurry.

Where's she off to?

She never goes with us.

- What are you reading? - A book.

- Is it interesting? - Very.

What's the title of it?

"The Three Comrades". Never heard of it.

Really? Everyone in Moscow's reading it.

- You're not a Muscovite, huh? - I am, almost.

Hello! Women's dormitory.

For whom? Ludmilla?

Who? Rudolph?

From the television, of course, I remember.

Oh, that's just grandma kidding. We've got houseguests from Riga,

so she's calling our apartment a dormitory.

No, we're spending the weekend in the country.

- What road we're taking? - The first we find.

I wouldn't know that. Our chauffeur takes us there.

I really have to run now, my dad is waiting.

You're such a liar!

Stop teaching me how to live my life.

You know, you're quite a catch. A car, a place in the country...

If I had gotten to you first...

You're not my type.

As for the place in the country, it's not much more than a cabin.

Oh yeah? That doesn't suit us. Turn around!

Stop frightening her. Can't you see how worried she is?

There's nothing to be scared of. You don't have to marry him at all.

Why talk about marriage? You're just guests for the weekend.

Come on.

My parents.

Ludmilla.

And Katerina. This is Tossia.

How are you?

In '33 she came to our factory.

And she had only one suitcase, that was all.

Mother, please, don't butt in.

I'm barely making 850 rubles now.

We'll help you get by.

In two months I'll be at the sixth level.

Out of the way!

This is the black currant bush I planted last year.

These are strawberries, over there, gooseberries.

Here we'll have an apple tree.

Why don't you grow cabbages over there, to have it all year round?

You're right, we'll do it.

- This is great... - What's so great?

I take one look at all this and it depresses me.

I'd kill myself rather than live here.

Everything's decided in advance. You save up to buy a TV set,

after that it's a washing machine, then a refrigerator.

You've got a twenty-year plan like the government.

- What's so bad about it? - What's good living like that?

Don't you understand that we live in Moscow?

And Moscow's one big lottery, you can hit the jackpot.

Moscow is full of diplomats, artists, actors and poets.

Practically they're all men.

And we're women.

What do they need us for? They have their own women.

But we're no worse than the others.

Where can we find those artists?

That's the point. We have to find them.

Leave it to me.

Galia, get up! You told me to wake you up at nine.

Girls, strip your beds today!

- What happened to the hot water? - They turned it off.

Still sleeping? You're going to sleep your life away.

It's Sunday. Why are you bothering me so early?

- Where's Antonina? - Went to the country with Kolia.

She's got bogged down in the bourgeois mire. Where're you going?

I'm going to visit some relatives. They sent me a card.

What relatives?

- Uncle Lyosha. - Who's that?

He's a professor. He's my mother's cousin.

I stayed at their place for a week when I first came to Moscow.

Oh yeah, I remember now.

- Where are you going after that? - To the Tretiakov Gallery.

After all I taught you about how to get a man and you go there.

The only kind of men you're going to find there are tourists.

I go to see the paintings, not the men.

Well, I'm going to visit the Lenin Library's biology department today.

Imagine the clientele it's got. The kind of men there.

Doctors, academicians, philosophers.

Are you going to spend your morning watching them read?

No, I'll hang around the smoking section.

Hello, Maria. I have a surprise for you.

I managed to dig up two tickets to the Van Cliburn concert.

Tonight at the Sports Palace.