Video: Behind the scenes of Tehran-43: How Natalia Belokhvostikova inspired Charles Aznavour for Eternal Love
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
38 years ago, in the summer of 1981, the premiere of one of the most famous Soviet spy detectives Tehran-43, jointly produced by the USSR, France and Switzerland, took place. In the first year of distribution, it was watched by about 50 million viewers! The main sensation was the participation in the film by Alain Delon, and Igor Kostolevsky and Natalya Belokhvostikova in the lead roles and, of course, the wonderful music of Charles Aznavour, became the guarantee of popularity. His composition "Eternal Love" has long become a world hit, but the audience did not even suspect that a Soviet actress inspired him to create this song …
According to the plot, in 1943, before a conference in Tehran of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, the Nazis planned an attempt on the life of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, and a Soviet intelligence officer (Igor Kostolevsky) prevented this attack. A French translator (Natalia Belokhvostikova) became an eyewitness to what was happening. True, historians argue that there could be no assassination attempt in Tehran. All events in the film were fictional. But the hero Kostolevsky had a real prototype - the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Gevork Vartanyan, who worked in Tehran. He liked the film, except that the hero of Kostolevsky shot. Vartanyan said: "".
Igor Kostolevsky called this film his greatest acting success - although he was already a popular actor, known for the film "The Star of Captivating Happiness", it was Tehran-43 that made him a real idol of Soviet audiences and brought the actor international fame. Kostolevsky was approved without samples, but at the beginning of filming he almost lost his role. During the rest, he significantly put on weight, and director Vladimir Naumov set a condition for him: the Soviet intelligence officer must be in perfect shape. In a few weeks he managed to put himself in order, and then he was allowed to shoot.
The main female role went to the wife of director Vladimir Naumov, actress Natalia Belokhvostikova. But she also had a hard time on the set - her heroine-translator had to speak Farsi, and the actress had to learn phrases in an unfamiliar language. In addition, in the film she had to play 3 roles - the translator herself, her mother and daughter. Complex make-up took 5 hours.
When directors Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov came to the shooting in Paris, there they decided that in their film it was imperative to shoot a star of French cinema. The idea of inviting Alain Delon at first seemed absolutely fantastic - at that time he was at the peak of popularity, his schedule was scheduled for months. Nevertheless, the actor agreed to meet with Soviet directors. But when he heard that he had only one episode to play, he was indignant and set the condition: "". Overnight, the authors wrote a new hero into the script - the French inspector Foch, and Delon agreed to act in film.
On the set, Delon proved to be a real professional. Only once did he allow himself to be capricious: he just had to leave the office and get into the car, but this happened, as conceived by the authors, on the Champs Elysees. Delon demanded to change the location of filming - he was very popular and foresaw that crowds of fans could disrupt the filming. The directors refused to change anything, and then Delon came to the set early to demonstrate that he was right. A huge number of people really gathered around him, but the scene was still filmed.
The directors' calculation was correct - the name of the world-famous star on the posters attracted millions of viewers to cinemas. Vladimir Naumov said: "".
After filming the Parisian part of Tehran-43, the directors had the idea that the film must include a love song written by Charles Aznavour. Few knew that "Eternal Love" was created by Charles Aznavour and Georges Harvarenz especially for this picture. And Natalia Belokhvostikova inspired them. Composer Garvarentz reviewed the footage, and then asked to invite Belokhvostikova to the hall, and music was born. And when Aznavour heard this melody, he wrote poetry on the same day. He was told the plot of the film, but most of all he was impressed by the heroine Belokhvostikova and said: "". After the premiere of the film, the song was such a success that since then Aznavour has always performed it with Mireille Mathieu at the end of his concerts.
The directors conceived to combine military newsreels with a love song, but no one even imagined that this would cause such an effect - the audience in cinemas always cried at this moment. Vladimir Naumov recalled: "".
Many people remember "Tehran-43" for this very song. First performed in this film, she topped the charts in France. It was said that even if Aznavour wrote only this one song, it would be enough for him to gain worldwide popularity.
Despite the fact that after this film, incredible popularity fell on Natalia Belokhvostikova, the main event in her life was still far ahead: For what acquaintances condemned the famous actress.
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