Irony of Fate Totally Explained

Everything about Irony Of Fate totally explained

ť This is about a movie; for the eponymous concept, see Irony of fate (cosmic irony).

Irony of Fate (original title: Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!, in transliteration: Ironiya Sudby ili S Lyogkim Parom) is a Soviet comedy-drama directed by Eldar Ryazanov as a made-for-TV movie. The screenplay was written by Emil Braginsky and Ryazanov, loosely based on Ryazanov's 1971 play 'Once on New Year's Eve' (Russian: Однажды в новогоднюю ночь). The movie was filmed in 1975 at Mosfilm. Simultaneously a screwball comedy and a love story tinged with sadness, the film is traditionally broadcast in Russia and some other former Soviet republics every New Year's Eve. It is as fondly viewed every year as the American film “It’s a Wonderful Life” is during the Christmas holidays. Many memorable quotes from the film have become catch phrases in the Russian language.
A sequel, The Irony of Fate 2 (English title; Russian: Ирония судьбы. Продолжение; Ironiya sudby. Prodolzhenie, "Irony of Fate. The Sequel") was released in December 2007.

The story

The key to the plot is the relative uniformity of Brezhnev era public architecture. This is made explicit in a humorous animated prologue, in which architects who know better are shown polluting the entire planet with identical, unimaginative multistory apartment buildings - of the sort that can in fact be found in the suburbs of every city and town across the former Soviet Union. The rest of the film is live-action.
Following their annual tradition, a group of friends meet at a banya (traditional public bath) in Moscow to celebrate New Year's Eve (Russian: Новогодняя Ночь, Novogodnyaya Noch). All of them get very drunk toasting the upcoming marriage of the central male character, Zhenya Lukashin (Andrei Myagkov) to Galya (Olga Naumenko). After the bath, one of the friends, Pavlik (Aleksandr Shirvindt), has to catch a plane to Leningrad; Zhenya, in his turn, is supposed to go home to celebrate New Year's Eve with his fiancée. Both Zhenya and Pavlik pass out. The others can't remember which of their unconscious friends is supposed to be catching the plane; eventually they mistakenly decide that it's Zhenya and put him on a plane instead of Pavlik. On the plane, he collapses onto the shoulder of his annoyed seatmate, played by the director Ryazanov in a brief comedic cameo appearance, who helps him get off the plane in Leningrad. He wakes up in the Leningrad airport, believing he's still in Moscow. He stumbles into a taxi and, still quite drunk, gives the driver his address. It turns out that in Leningrad there's a street with the same name (3rd Builders' street), with a building at his address which looks exactly like Zhenya's. The key fits in the door of the apartment with the same number. Inside, even the furniture and layout of the apartment is identical to that of Zhenya's apartment. Zhenya is too drunk to notice the differences, and goes to sleep. Later, the real tenant, Nadya Shevelyova (Barbara Brylska), arrives home to find the strange man sleeping in her bed. To make matters worse, Nadya's fiancé Ippolit (Yuri Yakovlev) arrives before Nadya can convince Zhenya to get up and leave. Ippolit becomes furious, refuses to believe Zhenya's and Nadya's explanations and goes away. Zhenya desperately tries to get back to Moscow and Nadya herself wants to get rid of him as soon as possible, but unfortunately there are no flights to Moscow until the next morning. Thus the two are compelled to spend New Year's Eve together. At first they continue to treat each other with animosity, but gradually their behavior softens and the two fall in love. Comedy moments, punctuated by unexpected guests, the repeated return of jealous Ippolit, the buzzing of the doorbell and the ringing of the phone, are interwoven with the slowly developing love story. In the morning they feel that everything that has happened to them was a delusion, and they make a difficult decision to part. With a heavy heart, Zhenya returns to Moscow. Meanwhile Nadya reconsiders everything and, deciding that she might have let her chance at happiness slip away, takes a plane to Moscow following Zhenya. It isn't difficult for her to find him since they share the same street address...

Trivia

The term "Irony of Fate" refers to Fate toying with the lives of mortals. The second title, "S lyogkim parom!" (literally something like "Here's to your light steam!") is an idiomatic expression used to compliment somebody who has just come out of the shower, the banya, or the bathtub ("lyogkiy par" translates to "light steam" or "easy steam").

Oleg Basilashvili was originally cast in the role of Ippolit, but the death of his father prevented him from finishing the film . He was replaced by Yuri Yakovlev. Basilashvili's face, however, is still seen on the photo of Ippolit that Nadya retrieves from the snow.

The score to the film was composed by Mikael Tariverdiyev, and includes both orchestral background music and songs in the style of the "author's song" movement, sung by several of the characters. The strikingly melancholy lyrics of the songs were written by some of Russia's greatest twentieth-century poets: Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetayeva, Bella Akhmadulina, as well as the songwriter and poet Bulat Okudzhava. The singing voices of the characters were dubbed by the (now well-known) vocalists Sergey Nikitin and Alla Pugacheva.

Many street names, such as Red October Street, Leninskaya, etc., are/were common to various Soviet and now Russian cities. Zhenya's and Nadya's 3rd Builders' Street falls into this category. In Soviet times buildings were prefabricated in factories. Thus many buildings were identical in facade, layout, and even the locks on the doors. Many houses look identical, and even apartments look very much the same from the inside. For example, nobody had to ask for directions to the lavatory, because it's typically next to the kitchen.

The director Eldar Ryazanov cast the Polish actress Barbara Brylska as Nadya. As she didn't speak Russian well enough to supply the character's voice, it was dubbed by actress Valentina Talyzina, who appears in a small part as Nadya's friend along with Liya Akhedzhakova.

Cast

Andrey Myagkov as Zhenya

Barbara Brylska as Nadya

Yuri Yakovlev as Ippolit

Aleksandr Shirvindt as Pavel, Zhenya's friend

Georgy Burkov as Misha, Zhenya's friend

Liya Akhedzhakova as Tanya, Nadya's friend

Aleksandr Belyavsky as Sasha, Zhenya's friend

Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya as Zhenya's mother

Olga Naumenko as Galya

Gotlib Roninson as Zhenya's neighbour at the airport

Eldar Ryazanov as Zhenya's neighbour in the plane

Lyubov Sokolova as Nadya's mother

Valentina Talyzina as Valya, Nadya's friend; Nadya's voiceFurther Information

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