Video: Behind the scenes of the film "For family reasons": What episodes required to cut out censorship
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
40 years ago, the lyrical comedy "For family reasons" was released, which became a real hit, which does not lose its relevance today. Today it seems like a completely harmless story about family relationships, but in those days in the film they saw dangerous allusions about the introduction of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia and even a parody of Brezhnev! For these reasons, some episodes were required to be cut from the film.
Valentin Azernikov wrote the play "Options are Possible, or For Family Reasons" in 1975 for the Mossovet Theater. The play, in which the main roles were played by Iya Savvina, Larisa Naumkina, Anatoly Adoskin and Yevgeny Steblov, enjoyed immense popularity with the audience, and 2 years later, the Mosfilm management asked the author to write a script for the movie. As a result, this story not only brought him all-Union popularity, but also helped him get an apartment! The officials were amazed that the author of the apartment exchange story did not have his own housing, and he was issued a warrant!
Initially, Azernikov was asked to write a play about Moscow and Muscovites for the anniversary of the city. This proposal did not arouse enthusiasm in him, but while he was driving home by the metro, he had an idea how to show the whole city in a story about one family - of course, in the process of apartment exchange, especially since the "housing issue" was and remains for residents the capital is one of the most relevant! The playwright said that all his characters are fictional, but they turned out to be so believable that even friends and relatives reproached him for “writing off” his characters from them.
The audience could see other actors in the main roles: the director of the film, Alexei Korenev, almost approved his daughter, actress Elena Koreneva for the role of Lida, but Marina Dyuzheva turned out to be more organic in the auditions, and it was she who got the role of the daughter of the heroine Galina Polskikh. And instead of the Polish people, Lyudmila Kasatkina could have played. The role of Igor - the son-in-law of the main character - in the theater for 2 years was played by Evgeny Steblov, and this experience helped him bypass Vladimir Nosik, Stanislav Sadalsky and Viktor Proskurin on auditions. Savely Kramarov claimed the role of a speech therapist, but it went to Rolan Bykov. Another participant in the performance, Nikolai Parfenov, was also involved in the film. Only in the theater he played a broker, and in the film he became the deputy of Galina Arkadyevna - the heroine of Galina Polskikh.
The daughter of the main character Lida was played by a young actress Marina Dyuzheva. Later she admitted: she agreed to act in the first place due to the fact that this story was very close to her. She even thought that the script was written about her! This feeling does not leave her until now, however, now she sees her similarity with another heroine: "".
On the set, Marina Dyuzheva was at first very worried whether she could find a common language with Yevgeny Steblov, Galina Polskikh and other famous actors - the cast was too stellar. But all her worries were in vain. The aspiring actress felt easy and free next to professionals - she was treated as a full partner.
For a long time Rolan Bykov did not give his consent to the role of a speech therapist - at that time he was busy filming his film based on Gogol's story "The Nose" and could allocate only one day to another project. Therefore, the director promised Savely Kramarov that he would take him for this role if Bykov refused. Kramarov so wanted to play in this film that he turned to the playwright Valentin Azernikov with a request to put in a word for him. But Bykov nevertheless decided that it would be a big mistake to miss such a role.
Bykov finished his role in the elevator, escaping from the set of his film for just a few hours. And as a result, a masterpiece was born, filmed in just 2 takes - a scene with "Fefochka" Lenochka and a speech therapist from Koikogo Street. True, the director lost his temper due to the fact that Evgeny Evstigneev in the frame could not restrain himself from laughing, but they decided to leave even this in the film - his reaction to a speech therapist with "fictional defects" was too direct. This role has become one of the most recognizable in the filmography of Rolan Bykov.
Evgeny Evstigneev also initially wanted to abandon the role of the artist Nikolai due to the fact that at that time he was busy in other projects. But when he found out what story he was going to play, and what stars would become his partners, he agreed without hesitation. In order for Evstigneev to appear in the frame more often, the director rewrote the script on the go and even took one of the scenes from Steblov - when, in the process of apartment exchange, the hero met with the alcoholic owner.
The first and only role in the movie was the role of the girl Lenochka for the granddaughter of actress Zoya Vasilkova Katya. She ended up on the set by accident - just once the actress brought her with her to Mosfilm. The girl turned out to be so charming that they immediately decided to shoot her in an episode with a speech therapist. In the future, she did not continue her acting career, graduated from philology and works as a manager in a travel company.
The atmosphere on set was very warm and relaxed and all footage was filmed in just 3 months. And here the real difficulties began. It seemed to some of the film studio editors that a speech therapist who could not pronounce half of the letters of the alphabet was a hint or even a parody of the head of state Leonid Brezhnev, who also had noticeable diction defects. Therefore, one of the strictest chiefs of the State Television and Radio Company came to the final screening of the film, but, to the surprise of the film crew, she liked the comedy, and the scene was still allowed not to be cut out. But the scene with the broker, whose role was played by Vladimir Basov, fell under the scissors. In his remark about the Czech toilet in the apartment, they saw a hint of the introduction of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968. The episode was considered ideologically dangerous and was cut out of the film, without even informing the director about it. Later, 15 years later, the film was shown uncut.
Critics considered the film too lightweight, they called it "a spectacle at once", "nonsense" and "consumer goods". Even the actors themselves did not think too highly of this comedy and did not expect that it would be so popular with the audience. Yevgeny Steblov admitted years later: "".
Another film could be made about the "family circumstances" of the actress who played the main role: Galina Polskikh's unfulfilled dreams.
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