Kharita Ignatyevna Ogudalova (played by the talented Alisa Freundlich) is a noblewoman from a good and respected family, but now she is a widow with three adult daughters of marriageable age. After the death of her husband, she became poor, but does everything in her power to marry her daughters to wealthy suitors. Despite the lack of funds, the Ogudalovs’ house is always open to single men, preferably not poor, so that they can marry dowryless girls for love. By the time the film begins, only the only, youngest daughter, Larisa Dmitrievna Ogudalova (played by the magnificent actress Larisa Guzeeva), remains “unattached”. It would seem that everything is fine, several very wealthy gentlemen are immediately partial to her, among whom the most outwardly brilliant is Sergei Sergeevich Paratov. He is handsome, charming in his own way, dandy, imposing and a rich entrepreneur. But they are not the only ones laying claim to Larisa’s hand and heart. Harita Ignatyevna, who deeply understands the life of her time, does not push the modest postal official Karandyshev away from home, realizing that by a twist of fate he may be the one to make Larisa happy, because she, as a woman, can see how deeply and unrequitedly he loves her daughter. It quickly became clear to me, albeit at a fairly young age, that this is a brilliant work by Eldar Ryazanov and its uniqueness lies in the fact that immediately immersing yourself in the era of the 19th century, in all those problems, not only social, but also human relations, passionate and unrequited love, betrayal, pride and contempt, psychological breakdowns, dramatic experiences that will later be concentrated in the final scene, you realize how relevant all this is at any time.
Dear reader! Agree with me that these phrases of Sergei Sergeevich Paratov (brilliantly performed by Nikita Mikhalkov) sound in all times and eras, as long as humanity exists: “I want to know how soon a woman forgets a passionately loved man: the day after parting with him, a week or a month… I will always think of you with respect; but women in general, after your act, lose a lot in my eyes… These “gentle, tender glances”, this sweet loving whisper, – when each word alternates with a deep sigh – these vows… And all this is repeated to another a month later, like a learned lesson. Oh, women! … ”
Undoubtedly, in no other screen version of the play “The Dowry” is Paratov shown as multifaceted, vital and convincing as Eldar Ryazanov and Nikita Mikhalkov managed to do. Everything in Mikhalkov’s performance, height, posture, facial expressions, gestures, movements, manners, smile, stern look, great physical strength, the ability to evaluate the merits and demerits of any person, heightened emotionality and even stingy male tears, characterize Paratov as an extraordinary person. Of course, Larisa’s emotional and sublime nature could not help but fall in love with him and fatally trust him.
And how good are the other performers! Larisa’s mother – feminine, attractive, still attracting the attention of men, charming Alisa Freundlich! And the modest postal official Karandyshev, a man of wounded pride and vanity, but the only one in the play who truly deeply loves Larisa, in the acutely psychological performance of Andrei Myagkov! And the peculiar symbols of that new business Russia – entrepreneurs Knurov (actor Alexei Petrenko) and Vozhevatov (actor Viktor Proskurin) – people more tough and integral in business than the overly emotional Paratov. Ryazanovsky’s selection of actors is truly unique! But in life everything happens just like in Ostrovsky’s plays. It can be just as unbearably painful, just as difficult to understand and appreciate everything, tears flow just as abundantly, and you just want simple human happiness, but there is also a forbidden fruit, which is oh so sweet and pleasant. And having tasted it, we often make an irreparable, terrible mistake, for which we then have to pay dearly and suffer all our lives. Larisa subconsciously understands all this and repeatedly talks about it in the film: “I was looking for love and did not find it. They looked at me and look at me as if I were a joke. No one has ever tried to look into my soul, I have never seen sympathy from anyone, I have never heard a warm, heartfelt word. But it is cold to live like this. It is not my fault, I was looking for love and did not find it… it does not exist in this world… there is nothing to look for.” But Larisa has already fallen into the nets cold-bloodedly set to catch her by people who know how to appreciate everything and ruthlessly use it for their own needs. This is how Messrs. Knurov and Vozhevatov talk about her, as if she were an expensive thing: “Can’t you see that this woman was created for luxury? An expensive diamond is expensive and requires a setting.”
Making films based on classic works is always a great creative responsibility for any director, even for such a professional as Eddar Ryazanov. It can be said in all seriousness that the film surpassed the play. Ryazanov decided for himself right away that he would not change the outline of the play itself at all, but would try to reveal its deep meaning by cinematic means. And he succeeded brilliantly. We believe every frame of the film, every gesture and look of the actors, and this is helped by the magnificent music of Andrei Petrov and the romances performed by the characters. And then everything is like in the classics. The brilliant Paratov, who made Larisa fall in love with him, suddenly disappears from the city without warning her, because the fate of his estate and fortune is under threat. Larisa finds herself at a crossroads and chooses Karandyshev. Although she openly admits to everyone that she does not love him.
And then there is an even more intense dynamic of the plot: the planned wedding, the return of the insidious Paratov, who does not even think of marrying Larisa, the selfish games of Knurov and Vozhevatov, each of whom sees Larisa as his future mistress, and Karandyshev’s shot, which destroyed Larisa physically, but saved her from further moral decay, that is, from a world where the power of money turns out to be much more important than deep human feelings.
Changes in attitudes and worldviews at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries turned back time in Russia, and today “A Cruel Romance” is perceived not as a film about the past, but as a film about the present. This is a unique historical phenomenon, which seems to reflect three entire eras in the history of modern Russia. “A Cruel Romance”, preserving the spirit and aroma of the era of the film’s creation (1984), which was directly reflected in the poems and songs, painful as the fate of the heroine, also carries the deep meaning of Ostrovsky’s play, vividly reflecting the collisions of the first era of private enterprise in Russia, which in our time has acquired an even broader and uglier scope.