Eldar Ryazanov

[TechnicolorAcid]

Eldar Ryazanov
(1927 - 2015)

F I L M O G R A P H Y

Features

Spring Voices (1955)
Carnival Night (1956)
Girl Without an Address (1958)
The Man from Outer Space (1961)
Ballad of a Hussar (1962)
Give Me a Complaints Book (1964)
Beware of the Car (1966)
Zigzag of Success (1968)
Old Men: Robbers (1972)
Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (1974)
The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975)
Office Romance (1977)
The Garage (1979)
Say a Word for the Poor Hussar (1980)
Station for Two (1982)
A Cruel Romance (1984)
Forgotten Tune for the Flute (1987)
Dear Yelena Sergeyevna (1988)
Promised Heaven (1991)
The Prediction (1993)
Hello, Fools! (1996)
Old Hags (2000)
Still Waters (2000)
A Key to the Bathroom (2003)
Andersen. Life Without Love (2006)
Carnival Night 2, or 50 Years Later (2007)

Shorts

How Robinson Was Created (1961)

Documentary Work

Road for October (1951)
World Chess Championships (1951)
Soviet Sport No. 5 (1951)
Newsreels No. 58 (1951)
Pioneerism No. 3 (1952)
Not Far From Krasnodar (1953)
Your Books (1953)
Newsreels No. 30 (1953)
In the Far Eastern Skies (1953)
Sakhalin Island (1955)
Day in the President’s Family (1993)
The Music of Life (2009)


FORUM RESOURCES

Brief Overview of Most of His Soviet-Era Works

EXTERNAL RESOURCES

The Sad Comedy of Eldar Ryazanov - David MacFadyen

[TechnicolorAcid]

Eldar Ryazanov, in my mind, is one of the 20th Century's most unacknowledged filmmakers in the West. In Russia and all across the former Soviet Union, he holds this status as a legendary filmmaker who was able to churn out a slew of masterful films across his over 5 decade long career with most of them still being held in high regard and consumed by millions each year. But yet he's never gotten that same sense of praise in the West or even anywhere close to it despite the fact that a lot of his most popular films are easily some of the most accessible films from the Union for a Western audience, in part because of how Ryazanov plays with Hollywood genre archetypes and formed through his own style and themes over the course of his career with help from screenwriter Emil Braginsky. Ryazanov's early films especially feel born out of a deep reverence for the genres he consumes as he indulges in bringing their strengths to an audience who otherwise rarely experienced films from Hollywood itself while simultaneously cheekily poking jabs at their tropes; Carnival Night is a delightful backstage musical but also throws in an almost tyrannical state-sanction adoring bureaucrat to contrast the unhinged color-filled, joy of the performances with a man slowly losing control of the situation alongside his mind. Meanwhile, on the other end of Hollywood influences, Beware of the Car drowns in its noir backdrop through its sense of doom in its central relationship and shadow filled cinematography while also playfully checking off setpieces like a to-do list, complete with an omnipresent narrator commenting on the nature of tropes while they're playing out.

This playfulness then leads into what I view as Ryazanov's biggest strength that is his delightful sense of warmth that he puts in almost all of his films, which I think is a result of who he chooses to highlight in his films. Ryazanov often centers his films on outsiders from the anxiety fueled Anatoly in Office Romance to the old leads about to be chewed out by society in Old Men: Robbers, Ryazanov's leads are rarely ever leaders or geniuses or even in control of their emotions/urges most of the time but Ryazanov still delivers this immense sense of understandings. One of my favorite moments in any of his films happens in The Garage where, without spoiling anything, occurs towards the end when one of the characters who's about to lose a prized car spot begins to undergo some sort of mental episode and in that moment, everything stops and just lets it unfold with this pure sense of warmth; they don't become the hysterical lunatic as a lesser director could've easily painted her to be but rather Ryazanov treats them with compassion and understanding through not only his characters but through the general mode of the scene which settles down just to focus in on this one person. It's a fantastic example of Ryazanov's sense of empathy that pops up again & again in his films and one that bounces off of the other key aspect of his films; his critiques of his society.

Ryazanov's critiques of his own society most likely stemmed from the fact that when he was 10, his father was detained in a Stalinist correctional labour camp for 18 years and even at a time when propaganda was at its highest turnout in the Union, Ryazanov still put in sly middle fingers to the system he was operating under through the usage of the aforementioned bureaucrat in Carnival Night becoming a symbol of state censors and councils who often mandated inoffensive works to please the people without consideration for genuine artistic values, which were especially rampant under Stalin's regime, and painting them as bumbling fools. Other the course of his career in the Union, his critiques against society would expand and culminate into tales chronicling the Union's decline in the semi-surreal melodrama of Forgotten Tune for a Flute, the anger fueled home invasion thriller of Dear Yelena Sergevich, and the magical realism tragicomedy of Promised Heaven; all focused on the disorienting and crippling effects of the Union's decline, especially on its elderly residences, in the wake of a seemingly abrupt abandonment of its own values.

In a way too, the evolution of his satire also demonstrates a shifting landscape in the types of films being made under the Union; shifting from more sanitized productions for all ages in the Stalin years alongside its aftermath to the shift towards more adult oriented and more free moving films in the 60s to the eventual shift towards satire-oriented films towards the end of the Union when filmmakers could go all out with their criticisms. Even at his worst points (despite the joys of watching Anatoli Papanov in four roles in The Man from Outer Space, the film itself is barely passable if not occasionally entertaining), Ryazanov remains a time capsule filmmaker; one whose films were based on the times that he lived in and ones that focused not on exceptional people but on everyday ones thrown into exceptional stories of compassion and warmth while also being really funny and charming.

For anyone curious on where to start I would recommend starting with Beware of the Car and The Irony of Fate to better understand how varied Ryazanov's career was and then going on chronologically from Carnival Night to Promised Heaven, if only to see how Ryazanov's style shifted over the years.

[therewillbeblus]

I liked this one, though found it uneven:

The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (Eldar Ryazanov, 1975): A three-hour screwball-tragicomedy that also apparently happens to be Russia's It's a Wonderful Life-esque NYE tradition?! I'm not sure the film earns its length, especially when it ventures into elongated dramatic theatre acts that conflates superficial vulnerabilities with depth of character. The central conceit is very funny, but it burns itself out by the midpoint and morphs into something else entirely. I'd love to see a less intimately-shot pure screwball at half its length (or, alternatively, an intimately-shot drama of lonely souls -the kind reminiscent of a solemn McCarey- also at at half its length) instead of trying to cram so much into one movie. Still, there's a smooth edge to the transition the film takes from farce into a genuine humanism amidst a Linklater 'night-of-connection' arc, even if it's inconsistently stimulating-to-dull compared to those rounded works. I bet this plays even better on rewatches when you know to expect the uneven shifts, but on a first run it's a worthwhile, smart and raw endeavor, and I can see why it's a classic folks return to seasonally

[Yakushima]

I grew up with Eldar Ryazanov's films and fondly remember many of them as flashes of immense joy in otherwise bleak Soviet TV programming. He was a Soviet equivalent of Lubitch and Wilder. He delivered hilarious and poignant comedies with social commentary smuggled in, in a way that it managed to avoid censorship yet was in plain sight. Also, Ryazanov was a man of wit, charm, and integrity in a society where very few public figures managed to maintain their integrity for long, succumbing sooner or later to the demands of the political system.
I still dearly love many of his films and re-watch them when the mood strikes. They aged surprisingly well. My favorites of his are Office Romance, Say a Word for the Poor Hussar, Beware of the Car and The Irony of Fate.
I hope to see some of them making their way into the Deaf Crocodile catalog sooner rather than later.

[therewillbeblus]

Beware of the Car is such a well-meaning and kind film, one that's hard to dislike even if it's not that funny or fun for much of the runtime. I generally don't respond well to Eastern European humor, but there's a goofy 'friendly' car chase set piece in the middle that's a riot. I liked all the characters and their motives.. I don't know, what else to say about it? It's just all very 'nice'. I'd like to see a movie by this filmmaker that's a bit more involving and daring, but maybe that would come at the expense of its warmth

[TechnicolorAcid]

Beware of the Car is such a well-meaning and kind film, one that's hard to dislike even if it's not that funny or fun for much of the runtime. I generally don't respond well to Eastern European humor, but there's a goofy 'friendly' car chase set piece in the middle that's a riot. I liked all the characters and their motives.. I don't know, what else to say about it? It's just all very 'nice'. I'd like to see a movie by this filmmaker that's a bit more involving and daring, but maybe that would come at the expense of its warmth

Check out The Garage then, it starts off as a Russian riff on 12 Angry Men before turning into a play on Bunuel’s The Exterminating Angel while still retaining Ryazanov’s wonderful sense of warmth throughout.

I’d also recommend his earlier Carnival Night, which while not as good as his masterpieces, is really fun and is anchored by a wonderful performance by Soviet icon, Igor Ilyensky (also perfect for the holiday season too since it takes place on New Year’s Eve); Ballad of a Hussar too, while certainly Ryazanov’s most nationalistic film, is a very fun action movie that maintains a sense of consistent warmth and friendship alongside featuring excellent lead performances & a very vibrant cinematography. Oh and definitely also Office Romance, which is certainly Ryazanov’s crowning work and just flat out, one of my favorite films ever made that I discussed more in my overview linked on the top post.

[therewillbeblus]

I liked Office Romance quite a bit. It's got a vibe that feels like a cross between Hal Ashby and Michel Deville, though I wouldn't say it's as good as good as either's works from the 70s. The social humor at times feels French, in how small behavioral quirks spurt out of nowhere from a sense of playfulness and earn benevolent laughs. I preferred the first half where the relationship dynamics get upended in an overall predictable turn, but with unpredictable activity inciting these changes. Once the shift is accomplished, there's less excitement as the film goes onto a languid middle section with other relationships and office politics. I couldn't help but wonder how effective this would be if it followed a Punch-Drunk Love model, keeping its first hour in place where romance is finally set in motion, and then giving us a brief but compressed series of scenes that drove home the passion born from these lifts in spirit. Remaining in an office politics comedy-of-manners is a fine choice, but the energy peters out a bit. I don't want to put down the film's schematic strategy too much - it's still a breezy, often charming, and cute experience. I enjoyed the last act more, which returned to and fulfilled the promise of the start. The couple's conversation in the late-act dinner date, and their complex engagements towards the end felt authentic and elevated from artificial comic-romance trappings. The length doesn't overwhelm at all, but a little chopping could've made this a greater film.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Once the shift is accomplished, there's less excitement as the film goes onto a languid middle section with other relationships and office politics. I couldn't help but wonder how effective this would be if it followed a Punch-Drunk Love model, keeping its first hour in place where romance is finally set in motion, and then giving us a brief but compressed series of scenes that drove home the passion born from these lifts in spirit. Remaining in an office politics comedy-of-manners is a fine choice, but the energy peters out a bit.

I’m really glad that you liked Office Romance (it’s such a genuinely special movie to me that arrived at just the right point in my life), but, while I will admit that while most of the middle portion isn’t as good as when the joys I get during the interactions we get with our central duo (and a key point of critic for most people), I find those portions nonetheless pretty important to the film for a couple reasons:

Spoiler

1.) Yuri and Olga’s relationship, I think beyond just serving as just a key piece in the plot for which Anatoly gets his confidence and from which Yuri reveals the ruse, also highlights Ryazanov’s critiques with the cold nature of the Soviet bureaucracy through how he uses a representative of that system, Yuri, as a metaphor for the way the system crushes down even the most optimistic of its people, especially its women, into shells of their former selves. Which in turn, unlocks a key aspect of Ludmila’s character only previously hinted at, which is that her coldness most likely came from a potentially disastrous breakup and not only further linking her to Anatoly but also makes the audience want to root for her to finally break out of her shell once and for all.

2.) I’d argue that the fact that we spend so much time in the office building is also an essential part of the film because for most of the film, we’re stuck with often cold, bland, mundane colors of the environment and ridiculous office politics that would make the audience feel languid (which knowing what Ryazanov’s work would become, feels very much on purpose). And that feeling builds until the moment where Anatoly gives Ludmila the flowers which stand boldly in contrast to the rest of the color palette, bar the moment we’re in Ludmila’s garden, but also acts as a sense of comfort through the fact that it’s something so purely natural existing against the mostly artificial environment of the film, becoming a symbol of pure love in a world dominated by state-approved colors and bureaucrats.

And 3.) I’ll point out that the bureaucratic parts of the film contain, to me at least, the funniest gag of the film with the double payoff of the running gag of continuous requests to pay for a worker’s jubilee and if for nothing else, I can’t imagine the film without the workplace shenanigans in the final act.

I’d recommend continuing with Carnival Night, The Girl Without an Address and Ballad of a Hussar as his more streamlined/easygoing efforts (the former is mostly intended as light entertainment in the vein of a backstage musical akin to those from Golden Age Hollywood but nonetheless remains a short, fun delight of a New Years film while Girl is more of a light romance and Ballad is more akin a Hollywood war film despite it’s much more overtly feminist story alongside being one of his most beloved films). They’re also his most accessible in comparison to his later works in how much they’re designed to appeal to a much more Western audience in contrast to his later, much more Russian-centered films.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Okay stick with me for a second but I was watching The Apartment on TCM last night (perfect movie btw, gets better every time I see it) and I couldn’t help but begin to compare it to Ryazanov’s Irony of Fate since both are festive romance films tinged with satirical critiques of how their society operates through apartments and an overtone of melancholy/loneliness throughout their runtimes and in comparing these two, I come with two realizations:

1.) Much like how The Apartment’s reputation was based more on the idea of it being a comedy with dramatic elements rather than vice versa; a lot of Ryazanov’s films like Irony of Fate have unfairly developed a status as being strictly comedic when in fact, during his most popular period from roughly 1956-1991, he only seems to have directed a few genuine comedies (most of which was during his formative years leading up to Beware of the Car sans Ballad of a Hussar and then afterwards, only Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia could be considered a comedy throughout its entire runtime). Obviously there is a reason why people view Ryazanov’s work as comedies, they are very funny and his best work tows a line between the satirical, dramatic, and comedic expertly resulting in triumphs for its central leads (which, going by Greek definitions, does define it as a comedy). But by presenting his films as comedies, people come into them with certain expectations of a laugh filled riot and then inevitably get disappointed when they’re not.
Blus’ writeup on Beware of the Car, posted here earlier in this thread, especially shows an important example of that and I don’t blame him because if I was in his position and watched it not knowing that it’s a lot more serious than I thought it would be, I probably wouldn’t like it as much as someone who knew about that fact beforehand.
Again, Ryazanov’s work is definitely comedic but its humor is often secondary to its heart or drama. For example, parts of A Cruel Romance are pretty funny as we get caught up in watching these slime-ball characters basically embarrass themselves in their own egos but at its core is a deeply angry film about ego, abuse, abandonment, and misogyny where the comedy serves only as a way to take power away from the film’s monsters, who are otherwise in a place that rewards their behaviors instead of punishing them for it.
Meanwhile, even in something like Ballad of a Hussar, which plays like a light-hearted subversive take on the patriotic Hollywood war film, Ryazanov makes it clear that the comedy is second to both the action and the heart of the film revolving around the acceptance of a gender bending soldier by not only her peers but also by the administration themselves (who interestingly enough is based on a real trans man in Russian history but I’ll save that for another time).
I notice this is also true for a lot of Ryazanov’s contemporaries from Georgiy Daneliya (whose Nouvelle Vouge style masterpiece I Walk Around Moscow you should all watch) to Mark Zakharov but Ryazanov definitely is one of the biggest victims of retrospectives focusing in on his comedy more than anything else because in doing so, neglects the fact that his films are less about the comedy and more about their heart.

2.) Mr. Domino discussed a term regarding Robert Hossein that’s stuck in the back of my mind for weeks where he calls Hossein “the eternal student” and I think that term could equally describe Ryazanov as well. Unlike Hossein, Ryazanov does believe in a lot of things, specifically the defamation by society of genuine art and their mistreatment of women/their elders in life; but like Hossein, Ryazanov is a filmmaker whose work is defined by their influences and who shapes his work off whatever he film he’s into at the moment. The Irony of Fate becomes a Russian riff on The Apartment once you notice the similarities between them while The Garage is undoubtedly inspired by 12 Angry Men.
With The Irony of Fate especially, Ryazanov takes The Apartment’s sense of loneliness, its tragicomic tone, and its statement on how the apartment is a representation of the individual in a world of conformity & what happens when that sense of self is invaded before playfully turning it from a tale of self-preservation and the importance of learning to do the right thing into a zone of gray decisions that concludes with the idea that you have to accept what you’ve been dealt rather than trying to fight it.
And through this understanding, Ryazanov (in my eyes at least) becomes almost a paradoxical figure; at once clear in what he wants to discuss in his work but yet never able to define himself like his contemporaries could (even his two noir films, Beware of the Car and Zigzag of Success, that he made back to back lack any distinct stylistic connections) whose work thus to me becomes less of a cohesive body of work and more just a sly tribute to the consistently shifting landscape of popular cinema with every new film becoming Ryazanov’s chance to learn new tricks or master new tones or build on formulas he’s already established, hence why I find him also worthy of “the eternal student” label.

That’s pretty much all I have to say, if this sounds like deranged ramblings it’s probably because I wrote most of this half awake at 3 A.M. but I hope that at least one person reads this and gains a new understanding of Ryazanov as a filmmaker. Cheers!