Part Of The Picture: Not-so-young Love

NOT-SO-YOUNG LOVE

AUG 8, 2009 – THE ROM-COM STAPLE OF THE MEET-CUTE is so typically identified with young love that it’s easy, sometimes, to forget that the first meetings of mature adults can be cute too. The fortysomething Katerina (Vera Alentova) is on her way home in a train, when the fortysomething Gosha (Aleksey Batalov) seats himself opposite her. She gives him a look-over and he detects (as we do) a smidgen of disdain. “I know, I’m not proud of my shoes either.” She shrugs. “Well, I don’t care about your shoes.” He persists, “But they upset you, don’t they? I can tell it from your face.” She asks, “Is face reading your hobby?” He replies, “Sure. I can tell that you’re not married.” She’s hardly impressed. “Because you don’t see a wedding ring on my finger?”

He insists, “Even if you were wearing three wedding rings on each hand, you still have that unmarried look about you.” Now she’s intrigued. “You mean single women have a special look about them?” He offers a theory. “Their look is kind of searching. The same look police usually have. An executive has it, and a single woman has it too.” She remarks, “I’m in the police then.” He shakes his head. She says, “An executive?” He shakes his head and ventures, “You work in a factory, but as what? Specialist, right?” She nods. He continues, “Though I see you also in a position of leadership. Maybe the factory union leader. Is that what you do?” She’s amused. “Yeah, you’re almost right.” And he reveals, “I’m a specialist myself. A tool and die maker.” After a pause, he adds, “I’m single in case you’re interested.”

Katerina smirks, “Then you’re not so perfect.” Gosha protests, “I’ve just had bad luck in marriage.” It’s now her turn to prod. “I see! You had a bitchy wife.” He replies, “No, she was sweet. She even found herself a second husband.” Katerina is relentless. “So that was your fault?” But Gosha doesn’t get needled. He calmly says, “Actually I’m a very nice guy.” She points to his jowls as if pointing out proof that some of his habits aren’t very nice. He admits, “Oh, I love to have a drink! But never on the job and never on an empty stomach. Not far from where I live there’s a pond and birch trees… No, we go where no one bothers us. And we always make sure to leave the place clean.”

“I’ve got a friend who has an ulcer. He can’t eat anything. But he likes to watch us eat. It makes him feel good. When you make a sandwich of rye bread with slices of onion and maybe some anchovies…” She smiles. “You’re already making me feel hungry.” He says, “You’re invited then.” She retorts, “I don’t go any place with men I don’t know.” He persists, “Never made an exception?” She gets up and says goodbye. And the next day, she finds him outside her home. He says, “You’re getting home pretty late. I’ve been waiting two hours for you.” She wants to know why. He says, “ Because I had to see you.” Again, she wants to know why. He says, “I need you.” She makes up her mind very quickly. “All right. Come on up, I’d like you to meet my daughter.”

He’s unsettled. “You’ve got a daughter?” She asks, “Are you surprised?” He wants to know if she has a husband waiting too. She asks, “Is what you need an unmarried woman?” He ventures a reason behind her invitation. “You and your husband had a fight and you use me to pay him back?” She laughs, “With an observant mind like yours you ought to work as a weather man.” He follows her up to her flat, where Katerina introduces Gosha to her daughter Alexandra (Natalya Vavilova). As if unsure how to continue talking to a teenager, he hands over the packages in his hand. “Put all this in the refrigerator, will you?” He walks around the rest of the house and observes, “All right. No husband.” Katerina sits down, puts her feet up, and asks him to take his jacket off.

A little later, they sit down to eat. Alexandra enquires, “Do you work in the same factory that mother does?” Gosha replies, “No, we don’t work together. Though we’re going to live together, I hope.” After a look at her startled mother, Alexandra asks, “You mean that you want to marry her?” Gosha says he does. Alexandra asks, “Have you known her for a long time?” Now firmly in cute-mode, Gosha glances at his wristwatch and replies, “Forty-four hours and about twenty-two minutes.” Alexandra laughs. “But Mother has always been of the opinion that you have to know a man well to marry him, and that takes time.” And Gosha replies, “Right, to marry a person after only a two-day acquaintance is a very thoughtless act. It’s best to wait about a week.” He looks at Katerina. “So you can let me know next Wednesday.”

Moskva Slezam Ne Verit (1980, Russian; aka Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears). Directed by Vladimir Menshov. Starring Vera Alentova, Irina Muravyova, Aleksey Batalov.

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Posted in: Cinema: Foreign