Behind the scenes of the film "Hello and Goodbye": What relations did Oleg Efremov, Lyudmila Zaitseva and Natalia Gundareva have?

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

20 years ago, on May 24, 2000, the famous actor and director, People's Artist of the USSR Oleg Efremov passed away. In his filmography - more than 70 acting works, he was often offered the role of law enforcement officers, and one of the most famous such works was the film "Hello and Goodbye", where Efremov played the district police officer Grigory Burov. His filming partners were debutant actresses Lyudmila Zaitseva and Natalya Gundareva, for whom this film was a successful start to their film career. What kind of relationship they had with Efremov behind the scenes, and what secrets he entrusted to Zaitseva - further in the review.

The script was written by Viktor Merezhko, and the director was Vitaly Melnikov, who at that time was already known to the audience for his works "The Head of Chukotka", "Mom Got Married", "Seven Brides of Corporal Zbruev". Each of his films became an event, and all the actors who were lucky enough to work with him called it their luck. Oleg Efremov by that time was already a movie star and the main director of the Moscow Art Theater, but Melnikov was ready to act even in episodes. They had already worked together in the film "Mom Got Married", and he accepted the director's new proposal without hesitation.

Melnikov has assembled a brilliant cast of actors - Oleg Efremov, Mikhail Kononov, Viktor Pavlov, Borislav Brondukov, Alexander Demyanenko. 26-year-old debutante Lyudmila Zaitseva was initially shy when she got into such a company. Moreover, she, a young actress, was to play the mother of three children, a simple rural woman whom Merezhko wrote from his mother. When she first appeared on the set with Oleg Efremov, she was completely confused. But the actor helped her cope with the excitement, and although he treated her with patronage, he became not only a mentor for her.

On the screens, paired with Efremov, they looked so organically that the audience immediately attributed the novel to them off-screen. In fact, they were connected only by friendly relations. He came to the shooting later - Efremov could only act on days free from other work, but from the very first minutes he could win over Lyudmila Zaitseva. There was no vanity or arrogance in him, and she immediately had a feeling as if they had known each other for a very long time.

Soon their communication became so confidential that Efremov even shared his heartfelt secrets with his partner - he spoke about the woman he was in love with. He then suffered from unrequited feelings and admitted to Zaitseva that all his life he was worried about such inconsistencies: the women who showed attention to him were indifferent to him, and those whom he chose did not reciprocate. Therefore, then on the set he had no time for novels. Because of his worries, he sometimes drank, and Zaitseva made sure that this did not happen on the eve of filming. But further communication between the actors did not work out - after filming they stopped seeing each other.

Melnikov was called the discoverer of talent - often those novice actors whom he invited to shoot later became movie stars. It was he who first considered the talent of Natalia Gundareva. Lyudmila Zaitseva recommended to the director to invite her to the role of barmaid Nadezhka. Then Gundareva was still an unknown theater actress, and she had not yet had any noticeable movie roles. Melnikov took a risk, entrusting the main female roles to debutantes, but they did not let him down.

From her very first appearance on the set, Gundareva conquered the entire film crew. Everyone was amazed at how quickly and organically she entered not only the filming process, but also the circle of local residents - she, a Muscovite, felt at home among the villagers, and they, looking after her, said: "".

The shooting took place in the Cossack village of Primorskaya. Local residents were filmed in the crowd. The actresses were not supposed to be different from them, and the operator Yuri Veksler forbade them to use makeup and tanning products. Zaitseva, who grew up in the village, was herself so similar to local women that she was often not perceived as an artist. Sometimes the policemen on duty on the set did not let her behind the fence, not believing that there was an actress in front of them.

Gundareva could hardly be called a beauty, but she always possessed some amazing magnetism and fascinated men. Viktor Merezhko said: "".

On the set of the film, Lyudmila Zaitseva and Natalya Gundareva became friends and continued to communicate even after the completion of the film. There was only one thing that Zaitseva could not stand in her friend - her singing. According to the plot, they had to sing together, and behind the scenes the actors often did the same. Viktor Merezhko said: "". As a result, Gundareva and Zaitseva got such a wonderful duet, as if both were professional singers.

A simple and touching story that could have happened in any Soviet village did not leave anyone indifferent - in the year of the premiere, the film was watched by more than 16 million viewers. Many women recognized themselves in the heroine of Lyudmila Zaitseva and wrote letters to her with words of gratitude. And Natalya Gundareva became a people's artist long before she was awarded this title - the spectators were sure that she was a woman from the people, and wrote letters to the film studio in which they warmly thanked the filmmakers for filming not only professional actresses in it, but also a simple village dweller Natalia. This was probably the biggest compliment to the actress. This film opened her way to big cinema, and after that Gundareva played dozens of roles.

She called the theater her greatest love, and for the sake of this love she sacrificed a lot: What Natalia Gundareva regretted until the end of her days.