The film events take place in Moscow in the 1970-s. The plot is based on the classical love triangle: two youths and a girl. They are students of the same institute of higher education, live in a large country without suspecting that soon it will vanish from all the maps of our planet. This film narrates about love, youth, and the country named the Soviet Union.
The pre-production period included building of complicated settings, bringing of the location objects into line with the required epoch and screen tests, quite possible longest in Shakhnazarov’s practical work by his own admission. The students of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg theatrical schools Alexander Lyapin, Lidia Milyuzina, Egor Baranovsky and Ivan Kupreenko were appointed for leading parts after almost three months of daily showings, readings and film tests. All they are debutants in cinema, and the young people coped very well with their tasks in undivided opinion of all members of the production unit. The well-known actors Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Olga Tumaikina, Vladimir Ilyin acted supporting roles in the film.
Sergey Rokotov (script author): “I wanted to write the truthful script about young people of the seventies, about my youth and that epoch.I may say that there is nothingfabricated in the film. All events of the film happened to me and my friends in real life. The script narrates how we lived, loved, went through first disenchantments and made our first discoveries…”
Alexander Lyapin (acts the part of Sergey Narbekov, the leading character): “I think this film deals with maturing of the man, understanding of important ideas, values. At first my character reflects on nothing, he lives light-heatedly, even recklessly. Then some events happen to him and make him to search sense of most important things. At the end of the film he is a quite different more grown up person. It is surprising that at the same time as the shootings were carried out, the same often happened to me in my own life as to my character in the film.Sometimes it seemed to me that I was not Sasha Lyapin, but Seryozha Narbekov (laughing)…”
Lidia Milyuzina(acts the part of Lyuda Beletskaya): “My girl-character is congenial to me. There are even some associations in the script. The main character confuses names and calls her Lida at first, but she answers that she is Lyuda, but not Lida. During tests we read this scene, and I thought that it were amusing when I should say this text in the film. I differ from Lyuda certainly, but we have much in common. I can appreciate her and think that if I were she I act the same way in situations from the script…”
Egor Baranovsky (acts the part of Stepan Molodtsov): “After shootings I was said in the theatrical school that I began to act more convincing in exercises (laughing). As a matter of fact after three month’s shootings I saw that cinema is a more serious thing that it seemed me before. Karen Georgievich demanded the utmost attraction of attention from us; I did learn much while working with him. It was a pleasure to me to work with these people. I doubt whether such an air may be in every production unit. Here we felt as if we were members of a big family, and it was very sad to part with everyone in the last shooting day…”
The film shootings were carried out in Moscow, Gagry, Khiva, on the ruins of ancient Khoresm and lasted for three months. The director of photography Shandor Berkeshi (Koktebel, Free Quest, Arbat Children) was charged with the picture corresponded to the required epoch; the legendary Mosfilm art designer Lyudmila Kusakova was charged with sceneries (The Pokrovskiye Gates, Assasin, The Star). The premiere of the new film by Karen Shakhnazarov in cinema theatres of the country is to be performed in the beginning of the next year.
Source : www.mosfilm.ru