Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Rating:
Summary: schmaltzy, with questionable historical value
Review: as far as the movie itself is concerned, it's an extension of hollywood 'avant la lettre.'

from a historical perspective this is not everyone's communist/socialist reality but a reality as the ideologists of those regimes would have liked one to belive.

for the east/central european emigre this movie may hold some perfume of the times past.

Rating:
Summary: It's a very good item to learn Russian
Review: I first saw this movie around 1980, when the Cold War was still on. I had been inundated with propaganda from birth, that all Russians talked about was political, that they didn't do "normal" things or live a normal life. All politics you know. Well, here was this movie about the lives and loves of three women. It was very well acted, and basically, just a long soap! I loved it--and not one word about Lenin, Marx, or anti-Americanisms. I recently saw it again, and liked it just as much. For those who say it is unrealistic--well, how do you know? Do you think that all Russians lived the exact same life? Or because American Cold War propaganda stated that all Russians were totally miserable?

Rating:
Summary: Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears
Review: I have watched this movie 20 times since it came out in 1980. This version is so good because the producers corrected the errors in the original subtitles. They were white letters on white tableclothes and white benches. It made it very difficut to read especially during some very critical scenes. That has been corrected in this DVD version. I highly recommend the subtitled version of this film over the English dubbed. The acting is so well done that the voice intonations are critical to the quality of the film. The dub-overs do not have those intonations that are so unique.

This is the tale of three Russian women who are very close friends and the paths they took in life. It spans over 20 years. The story could happen in almost any large city in the world, but it is an added touch that it takes place in Moscow during the Communist rule. One gets an interesting insight into life there at that time.

Rating:
Summary: As real as it gets!
Review: I miss those times. I really do. This film was a huge hit in USSR when it came out in 1979. I went to the movie theater with my parents to se it. Loved it then, still love it now. Did you know that this film was first experimental movie made in USSR with long run and big budget? "Air Crue" went out right after it, trying to catch up. But it was not as successfull as " Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears".
We didn't care much then about politics, we cared about each other. And the way how we was living and surviving was very simple - we was helping each other. And this is what this film shows at it best - real life, real friends, real meaning of life in our hearts. And this is what I miss so much from that time of my life. And this is what I was trying to find here without much success. Just how Vladimir Visotskiy said: This is very hard to find a black cat in the dark room ... especially if cat is not there ...
This is a subtitled version of the film.
Reviewed by "www.russianwriter.net"

Rating:
Summary: I love Moscow!
Review: Moscow is like a lottery: you have the chance to become a diplomat, a circus-artist, a film star. During the year 1958 three girls wonder if such a career is within their reach. They live in a rooming-house, work in a factory and toy with the idea of an academic career. But their main subject is - love. Antonina is the good one, Katerina is the sensitive one and Lyudmila is the man-chaser and gold-digger: the man of her choice should own a car and a datscha, and she tries to entrap an academic by hook or by crook.

After a while the good scenes start to drop in: Katerina is chosen to give a tv-interview while operating her machine. The very professional tv-reporter gives her a scrap of paper with prefabricated answers: Of course, she does not deliver. She has an affair with Gurin, the cameraman, and becomes pregnant. When she informs him he reacts like the "hero" in a french nouvell-vague-film: sulky because he is forced to play the baddie, anxious not to miss an appointment...He is such a coward that he even sends his mother to settle this affair for him. Suddenly Mom turns up in Katerina's rooming-house and treats her with disdain: She is not willing to relinquish even one square meter of her new two-room-apartment. Katerina refuses her settlement...

Twenty years later: Antonina is happily married to Nikolai and a mother of three. The other girls are unmarried. Lyudmila works in a department store, is harassed by an alcoholic ex-lover, but is still playing her old game: Wouldn't it be wonderful to be the wife of a general? Katerina lives together with her daughter Alexandra. She owns a large apartment (For Moscow standards), a car, and is now director of the factory. She has an affair with a married man, but she is not happy. But love comes when she meets the sly and charming Gosha, a locksmith, who announces very soon to Alexandra that he has the intention to marry her mother. He is even willing to beat the daylights out of the Moscow maffia who threatens Alexandra's boyfriend. Suddenly Gurin reappears: after two failed marriages he wants to see his daughter. (Katerina can't resist to ask why he did not bring his mom). But he manages to scare Gosha away. Katerina is desperate: how will she ever be able to find the man she loves, if all she knows of him is his profession and his nickname? Nikolai volunteers. Mission: find Katerina's runaway lover, if necessary by secret-agent-means...

Moscow Guys & Moscow Dolls. Moscow dogs & Moscow maffia. Moscow apartments & Moscow factories. Moscow marriage-brokers (The shortage of men is so serious that they refuse femals clients!). Moscow barbecues under Moscow birch-trees. This film is the soviet answer to Woody Allen's MANHATTAN - the director's declaration of love for his city. There have been some disappointed comments when this film won the best-foreign-film-oscar in 1980, but some critics always nag. It's pretty long, but don't forget that russians have big hearts and much to say. Besides, if you watch this film on video, you can interrupt them as often as you want...

Rating:
Summary: we can look after ourselves
Review: My second favorite Russian movie. Great, have watched it a number of times. The best way to introduce modern Russian culture to foreigners. I palied it for my Amercian friends during "Russian Party". I know the words by heart and before today, I had to interprete word by word the moview to non-Russian speaking people, now they can enjoy professioanl translation. Thank you

Rating:
Summary: A fun, more deep than a soap, soap (got that?)
Review: This is a touching, funny film that has been cast perfectly. The three main female players are wonderful in their execution, and Alexei Batalov (The Cranes are Flying) develops into the the film's hero in fine style. There may be some predictability here and there, but that also fits into this story of a woman who was used by a [man], became pregnant, had a daughter, became successful at work, and STILL found the love of her life in the end (see, some of us men are worth more than a casual glance). This is a fun movie based on a real life situation. I think it was handled well, and I hope you get to see it.

Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic.
Review: This is not a realistic movie, not at all. But it is a very good film, probably one of the best. Vera Alentova and Alexej Batalov are excellent as Ekaterina and Gosha, Irina Muravieva is charming as Ljudmila. The music, particularly the song "Alexandra" became a classic of the Bard genre. While it is true that this film became a breath of fresh air to the soviet people, particularly the Seventies generation, it would be truly ridiculous to call it a realistic portrayal of Russian life. It is a Cinderella story, happy, and charming, but never real. No one in the Soviet Union had it as easy as these characters are shown to have. It is, essentially, a kind film.

Rating:
Summary: a slice of life
Review: This tender, and by turns funny and sad film never fails to make me laugh and cry. The 1981 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film, it follows the life of three women, starting from 1958 in their youth, where they share a room in a worker's dormitory, then skipping 20 years, to how they've dealt with their lot in life, and what has become of their dreams.

The acting is fabulous, and Vera Alentova as Katerina is magnificent. One can feel her exhaustion, her heartbreak, and her incredible inner strength.
Perhaps this could be labeled a "woman's movie", because I think there are scenes that many women will relate to, and think, "I've been there". It's a story that could take place anywhere in the world, but the Russian settings, and the music (I adore the picnic scene !) are wonderful.

There is one huge flaw: The white subtitles sometimes fade into the picture and become unreadable, but I'm not deducting any stars, because the acting is so brilliant, that you won't have to understand Russian to know what is being said.
Some might find the final scenes unrealistic and far-fetched, but I would disagree. Life is full of bizarre coincidences and fated events...I find this film strikes a chord of truth, as well as being quite magical.