What mothers with many children condemned Natalya Gundareva for: Behind the scenes of the film "Once Upon a Time 20 Years Later"

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

Almost 40 years ago, in 1980, the film “Once Upon a Time 20 Years Later” was released, where Natalya Gundareva played the mother of ten children. The audience did not know that the story of the Kuchin family with many children helped her to play this role, because it was they who became the prototypes of the main characters. True, the film seemed to them too far from reality, and many mothers with many children, who recognized themselves in the image of the main character, condemned the actress …

Once in the "Literaturnaya Gazeta" published an angry letter from a mother with many children from Mendeleevo. It was a real cry from the heart - the woman wrote about the problems she had to face every day, and complained about the lack of understanding of those around her: instead of respect and support, she more often met condemnation and even aggression in society - they say, a dozen children in a family is savagery! Vera Kuchina was surprised that there was not a single program on television devoted to the problems of large families, and that the writers did not show interest in this topic: "".

This letter caught the eye of the screenwriter Arkady Inin, who was just looking for material for a new work. This story inspired him, and he wrote a letter to Vera Kuchina, where he told her that he wanted to make a film about their family, and invited her to meet. The woman refused: "". A mother of many children simply did not believe that someone would dare to make a true film about the hardships of her life.

But Arkady Inin did not abandon his idea. He wrote a script called “What did I do?”, And the director Yuri Yegorov announced that he was ready to make a film based on him. It was a story about meeting classmates 20 years after graduation. Each of them during this time has achieved considerable success in the profession, only the main character, "clever, excellent pupil and headman", did not work anywhere and could only boast that she had married and had ten children. When asked what she achieved, Nadya Kruglova replies: ""

This film had a special mission. The fact is that in those years there was a decline in the birth rate in the USSR, and the film was intended to raise the prestige of a large family. Because of this, critics did not like him, calling him "Soviet agitation", "pure utopia" and "outright propaganda." This film elicited the same reaction from viewers. When the film crew toured dozens of cities with the premiere of Once Upon a Time 20 Years Later, the director and actors often heard reproaches for the falsity and idealization of the life of a large family. According to real mothers with many children, Gundareva looked too well-groomed, fresh, calm and peaceful for such a role.

Natalya Gundareva answered this: "". However, the actress herself considered this role one of her most unloved, and called the film a chocolate-marmalade cake, also filled with ice cream on top.

The director was really forced to "smooth out the corners" and remove some of the episodes from the film. So, for example, in the script there was a remark from a passer-by condemning Nadia Kruglova: "". The children of Vera Kuchina also said that the movie was a little like their real life. Although some episodes were "written off" from their biography. For example, a scene with a Snow Maiden costume for a New Year's party - Vera Kuchina really spent the whole night at a sewing machine to sew an outfit for her daughter Nina. Like Gundareva's heroine, she was suspected of speculation in Detsky Mir, when she was picking up bags of clothes of different sizes.

If the actors who played the roles of classmates in this film also met 20 years later, this meeting would be no less interesting. Their fates have developed in different ways, some of them have not been in films for a long time. Olga Gobzeva, who played the poet, not only ended her acting career, but also renounced everything worldly, becoming a nun in 1993. Having played more than 40 roles in films, she suddenly realized how destructive the acting profession is for the soul: "".

Evgeny Lazarev, who played a TV presenter and candidate of sciences, in real life became a professor and taught at VGIK, in the 1980s. was the chief director of the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya. In the 1990s. he was invited to the United States, first as a director, and then as an acting teacher. He has worked at several American universities and theater schools. In recent years, the actor did not appear on screens and did not come to Russia - he remained to live in the United States. In 2016, he passed away.

Valentina Titova, who played a woman astronomer, has made a brilliant film career, having played more than 90 roles in theater and cinema. But years later, she admitted that at one time she also dreamed of becoming a mother of many children, when she was married to actor and director Vladimir Basov. But he told her he didn't want to raise a soccer team at home. The actress gave birth to two children, but her marriage broke up due to her husband's alcohol addiction.

Viewers hardly remember what they saw in this film Leonid Yakubovich - he got a small role in the crowd. He just sat at a desk in a school class with other classmates and did not say a word. After that, he continued to act in films, but in 1991 he became the host of the television show "Field of Miracles", which brought him popular love and popularity. Sitting at a desk in the ranks of the crowd and screenwriter Arkady Inin.

The daughter of the main character, who was going to get married at the age of 16, was played by Tatyana Nazarova, the daughter of the famous actor Yuri Nazarov. 5 years after the release of the film, she graduated from VGIK, however, she dreamed of not being an actress, but a director. Tatiana opened a theater studio for teenagers, but due to financial difficulties, it did not last long. And Nazarova went into the furniture business. She is proud of her work, while the acting profession has always been shy, calling her in her case "buffoonery". In her opinion, only brilliant actors can remain on the screens, and she did not rank herself as such.

Daria Malchevskaya, who played one of the daughters of the main character, also did not become an actress. She got into the cinema by chance - when she was 6 years old, the assistant director drew attention to her and offered to come to audition. Later, Daria graduated from the Faculty of Philology, works in a large confectionery company.

In real life, Natalia Gundareva had no children, and after this role she became the most famous Soviet film mum. After the release of the film, she was often asked how she managed to play a mother with many children, if in her life she had no experience of giving birth and raising children. The actress usually laughed it off or avoided answering, although in reality, of course, she was worried that she did not experience the happiness of motherhood, and called it retribution for success: What did Natalia Gundareva regret until the end of her days.