"Mymra" or the trendsetter: How the heroine of "Office Romance" managed to re-educate Soviet officials

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The story of Cinderella in any of its variations will be popular at all times. And the story of the transformation of an unattractive boss-cracker into a sexy beauty-fashionista - even more so. That is why the image of Lyudmila Prokofievna Kalugina from "Office Romance" made such a strong impression on the entire generation of Soviet women. But was it easy to create and transfer to screens? Yes and no.

There could be no other applicants

For the role of Kalugina, Alisa Freundlich, like other performers of key roles, was taken without samples. Ryazanov had no other candidates: firstly, only Alisa Brunovna, in his opinion, could ideally play the transformation from a rude workaholic into a spectacular beauty, and secondly, an invitation to shoot in "Office Romance" was like compensation for her failed participation in other paintings by Ryazanov. For example, in “The Hussar Ballad” Alisa Freundlich played her auditions perfectly, but at the last moment it was decided not to risk it, because in her image of a young hussar, something feminine was still unwittingly guessed.

The role of Lyudmila Prokofievna, without a doubt, promised to be both characteristic and interesting, so Freundlich gladly went to this experiment.

We hit the mark with the image

To create the image of Kalugina, the actress reviewed dozens of Mosfilm outfits and chose the most ordinary-looking and shabby suit. The operator of the picture was lying around with old glasses in dark thick frames, and he suggested that the actress try them on. The glasses perfectly complemented the look of the old-fashioned boss, becoming the most recognizable element in her image.

If in the film "mymra" specially developed an elegant gait, then the actress who played her, on the contrary, had to train to depict how angular, rude officials walk, because in life she was elegance itself. It is nowadays that the female boss usually visits beauty parlors and dresses up and down. In Soviet times, there were many such "mymrs" in institutions, so the actress had enough examples to follow.

The outfit in which Kalugina was supposed to appear at work after her transformation was sewn from a half-woolen plaid at the Model House according to a sketch specially developed for the film. The dress reveals a flying image of post-war American actresses (narrow waist, fluffy skirt), which in the minds of many Soviet women of that time was entrenched as a symbol of a charming beauty.

To show the image of a high-status official, the filmmakers chose an appropriate house. Kalugina, of course, could not live on the outskirts, like Vera's secretary, and, moreover, in the Moscow region, as an ordinary employee Olenka. Therefore, she was settled in a brick 12-storey building on Bolshaya Nikitskaya. By that time, it was one of the most prestigious new buildings in the center of Moscow, where nomenklatura workers, big bosses, as well as prominent artists lived.

The image of a wealthy official was complemented by seemingly minor touches. For example, before a telephone conversation with Novoseltsev, Kalugina wipes the dust from the chandelier. At the turn of the 70s and 80s, such crystal chandeliers with pendants were a squeak of fashion and were considered a symbol of the wealth of the owners. As if by chance, both scarce and modern equipment for those times is shown in her apartment. All this further emphasized the loneliness of a woman who has everything except personal happiness.

On the set

Eldar Ryazanov understood that Alisa Freundlich is mostly a theater actress and she would not work as comfortably on the set as on the stage. He also correctly noted that it is not a matter of a minute to get used to the image of an uncouth "mymry", and to shoot a film, as is customary in cinema, in small segments, when the scenes jump chronologically, in this case will not succeed. After all, Freundlich cannot play dirty in the morning, in the evening - a flirt in love with hair and make-up, and in the morning - again, I’m dirty. Therefore, the director decided to deviate from the rules and shoot the picture, in the order in which the events take place, in long long runs. In addition, during the scenes with Kalugin's participation, the cameras were standing so that they were not too noticeable to the actress, and the cameramen did not take close-ups separately, but during the shooting. Thanks to this, Alisa Freundlich could feel comfortable.

During the dialogues, the director allowed the actors to improvise. Freundlich and her partner Myagkov behaved especially creatively during the scene in Kalugina's house: this whole piece of the film is one continuous improvisation. This is how, almost by accident, their famous dialogue was born: "I have a proposal for you." "Rationalizing?"

The idol of Soviet women and a landmark for officials

After the release of the film, the actress received a sea of letters from Soviet women. They wrote that Lyudmila Prokofievna in a new image is their idol. While watching the film, female dressmakers sketched the contours of her dress and then tried to make similar patterns in order to sew something similar for themselves. And the visitors of the hairdressing salons asked the master to make her hair, "like Kalugina's."

I must say that Kalugina's dress subsequently flashed several times in several other Soviet films, but only in "Office Romance" did it make such a splash on the audience, playing in contrast to the old dull costume.

By the way, another fun fact. It was noticed that it was after the appearance on the screens of the film "Office Romance" that many Soviet chiefs, who had never watched over their appearance, recognized themselves in her image and followed her example - changed their image. The bosses really did not want their subordinates, who also watched the film, to compare them with the heroine on the sidelines of ministries and departments! As a result, there are many more elegant, fashionably dressed officials in the institutions.

Such a well-thought-out character and image turned the minds of many "blue stockings" upside down. Alas, after the release of the film, for some reason almost all the key figures in the picture received the USSR State Prize, except for Alisa Brunovna. However, she was not particularly offended, because in the Soviet years such injustices happened all the time and none of the actors were surprised. But Alisa Freundlich was then named the best actress of the year according to the magazine "Soviet Screen", which was truly popular recognition.

No less interesting are the images that he created in the cinema Yuri Vasiliev, another star of Soviet screens from the 70s and 80s.

Text: Anna Belova