The author of the script, playwright Vladimir Gurkin, first composed a play about how a simple Russian Vasya (Kuzyakin), a pigeon lover, an exemplary family man, accidentally went to the sea with a voucher and, completely unexpectedly for himself and others, went “left” there. He had a holiday romance with a hotheaded city FIFA, for whom Vasily left his wife and children. True, he quickly realized that the most dear thing to him was his family and pigeons and returned home.
The play Love and Doves was staged at Sovremennik. In the early 1980s, this performance was a great success with the audience. According to the memoirs of Vladimir Menshov’s widow, actress Vera Alentova, the performance was so good that she and Menshov “cried and laughed” in the auditorium. And Menshov came up with the idea of making a film based on Gurkin’s play. I met him and the married couple with whom Gurkin created his heroes. The play is based on the true story of the family of Vasily and Nadezhda Kuzyakin from the town of Cheremkhovo, Irkutsk region, where Gurkin lived for a long time. The playwright revised the play and turned it into a script. All that remains is to select the actors, find a place for filming and get to work.
One of the scenes from the play “Love and Doves” at the Sovremennik Theatre, 1982. Photo: Vladimir Yatsina/TASS Photo Chronicle
WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR NADIUHA FOR A LONG TIME
In the play Sovremennik, the main female role, Nadezhda, was played by Nina Doroshina. She was very natural in this role (and in all other roles); there was no point in looking for a new actress. Menshov did not immediately approve Doroshina for the main role. Several actresses auditioned for Nadyukha, including Lyubov Polishchuk. But she was too “fatal beauty”; husbands do not leave such wives for other women, even if it is Lyudmila Gurchenko. After a long search, the director returned to Nina Doroshina. Well, for her this role was like a family.
Nina Doroshina in the film “Love and Doves”.
By the way, according to Vera Alentova’s memoirs, which refers to Oleg Tabakov, the play “Love and Doves” was considered “a disgrace within its own walls” at Sovremennik. I think that this is not entirely true. After this performance, Gurkin became the favorite author of Sovremennik. Well, in the play itself, Anton Tabakov played Lyonka, the son of Nadezhda and Vasily Kuzyakin. It is unlikely that Oleg Pavlovich would have agreed to his son acting in such a “disgraceful” production.
MIKHAILOV ALMOST SAVED AT SEA
In Sovremennik, Vasily Kuzyakin was played by the artist Gennady Frolov. Menshov, apparently, did not even think about him. The following people auditioned for this role: Nikolai Lavrov, Boris Smorchkov, Viktor Bortsov, Alexander Fatyushin, Sergei Yursky. But the role went to Alexander Mikhailov, whom Menshov did not like at the first auditions. They found a common language only on the second attempt, when Mikhailov managed to convince Menshov that he was Siberian and was ideally suited for the role of a resident of the Siberian outback. Uncle Mitya approved of Sergei Yursky’s drinking.
Gennady Frolov and Irina Zelenskaya in the roles of Vasily and Olga Kuzyakin in the play “Love and Doves” based on the play by Vladimir Gurkin at the Sovremennik Theater. Photo by Vladimir Yatsina (TASS Photo Chronicle)
On the set of the film, Alexander Mikhailov almost had a tragedy. They filmed a scene in which his hero says goodbye to his family and falls from the door of his house, as if from a pier, into the Black Sea. He stood at the door in a suit and tie, and came out dressed only in swimming trunks. This is not a setup, but a trick invented by the director. In the water, divers were waiting for Mikhailov, who took off his suit and left him in shorts. And everything went well, if it weren’t for the problem with the tie. In the first take, while they were taking off his suit, the divers tightened the tie around the artist’s neck even more. And he almost drowned if the diver hadn’t cut off his tie with a knife.
Several takes were made. This scene was filmed in November in Kobuleti, Georgia. Water temperature +15. In this “warm” Black Sea, Vasily Kuzyakin meets the fatal Raisa Zakharovna. The audience imagines only Lyudmila Gurchenko in this role. But initially Menshov proposed it to his wife, Vera Alentova. In the play, Raisa Zakharovna was presented with a short episode. Menshov felt that this colorful character deserved more. Thanks to the director, the image of Raisa Zakharovna acquired impressive proportions. The fact that she is interested in “paranormal phenomena” is her invention. Vera Alentova should be glad that she has such a witty and attentive husband: he made her role memorable. But at the same time, Alentova was invited to star in the main role of director Yuli Raizman, in the film “Time of Desires”. Alentova decided to work with the classic of Soviet cinema.
Menshov began to look for another actress for Raisa Zakharovna. Tatyana Doronina (she later refused), Olga Yakovleva, Natalya Kustinskaya, Lyudmila Gurchenko auditioned… The director chose Gurchenko.
DRINKING TOO MUCH
“Love and Doves” was filmed in Medvezhyegorsk in Karelia. Menshov liked the private house on the outskirts of the city, on the banks of the Kumsa River, and agreed with the owners about the filming. A dovecote and a summer kitchen were added to the house, which later remained in the hands of the owners. Unfortunately, in 2011 this house burned down and was demolished. A new one was built in its place; its owner, a certain Evgeniy, restored the dovecote in the same place where the film was filmed. The episode where Raisa Zakharovna and Vasily exercise on simulators was filmed at the Tsanderov Institute of Mechanotherapy in Yesentuki. There is also a memorial plaque there.
Lyudmila Gurchenko (Raisa Zakharovna).
All members of the expedition remembered the filming of the movie “Love and Doves” with great joy. Menshov was a grateful spectator. He laughed so contagiously in every scene he filmed that the actors grew wings on their backs. The film shines with popular humor. And what acting work!
Vladimir Menshov faced the biggest problem when the film was already being shot. In the mid-1980s, an anti-alcohol campaign was launched in the USSR, which seriously influenced the fate of the popular comedy. When the film was handed over to him, Goskino commented: there were too many drunken scenes. Menshov was offered to cut out all the scenes in which the topic of drinking arose. He refused: the unique image of Uncle Mitya played by Yursky would have to be completely removed. Because Uncle Mitya did not appear sober on the screen. The management of Mosfilm dismissed Menshov from work and invited another director to re-edit the film. He spent three months cutting out scenes in which the characters drink. The result was so bad that Menshov was called to the film studio. And he again refused to remake the film, agreeing only to remove one episode in which a “random passerby” sees mugs of beer. And drinks six mugs one after another. For this episode, Menshov spent a lot of time looking for a trained person who would be able to drink 6 cups in one frame without editing or splicing. They found such a poor guy and filmed a funny scene that was eventually deleted.
By the way, Sergei Yursky, who played Uncle Mitya, said that they drank real alcohol during the filming. The actors drank in front of the camera, and the crew members drank off-screen.
Sergei Yursky.
After all the tests, the film was accepted. However, it was given a second category and was shown in small cinemas. Actress Vera Alentova believes that if this film had been treated differently, if it had not been released on a second screen, Vladimir Menshov could have gotten a second Oscar. But the film was withdrawn from major international film festivals. Nevertheless, in its first year of release in 1985, the film “Love and Doves” received the “Golden Boat” at the International Comedy Film Festival in Torremolinos, Spain. Despite the problems with the credits, the audience reacted very well to every joke and laughed furiously. Needless to say, popular cinema immediately won the love of Russian viewers.
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