Office Romance

This is one of the movies made by the best Soviet Director Eldar Ryazanov. The story is about the relationship between a boss (female) and a male worker in the Statistics Organization in Moscow. Unfortunately, this movie could be enjoyed by those who speak some Russian. There are a lot of jokes, which in my opinion are not easy to translate. Only those who know about life in Soviet Union and perhaps visited it (or have some friends over there) could thoroughly enjoy it. Many years later this movie remains one of the favourite movies in Former Soviet Union.

Eldar Ryazanov's "Sluzhebnyy roman" ("Office Romance" in English) had me properly fooled early on. I assumed that it was going to be a Soviet version of "The Apartment". It turns out that there's a number of surprises on the way, many of them cartoonish. This story of a love affair between maladroit statistician Anatoly Novoseltsev (Andrey Myagkov) and stern boss Lyudmila Kalugina (Alisa Freindlich) hits all the right notes. Overall it comes across as a spoof of day-to-day work in the Soviet Union. It could easily get shown as a double-bill with "The Apartment", "9 to 5", or the opening segment in Monty Python's "Meaning of Life". Really funny.

This is really a very good movie - if you haven't seen it yet, do so! It's a really funny movie... I don't know if you can get this movie in english, if you understand russian, this is a movie you h a v e to see!

This is the best movie I have ever watched. I cried because it is such a great movie. The 2 main actors the boss and her worker did a great job in this movie and I wish to meet them someday. I have lived in Russia my whole life. The 70's in Russia is the best time. If you haven't watched it you need to see it. Its a very touching movie especially if you understand Russian. This movie deserves a 10.5 out of 10 because i enjoyed it so much. I just don't know what else to say. Please if you haven't watched it, watch it, it will be the best movie you ever see.

thanks, Novoseltsev

It's really a great movie especially if you love old romantic movies!! Romantic and funny and illustrates perfectly the work environment and organization from '77. Excellent actor performances and great story line. It made me think at first at the "The taming of the shrew" story. A romance that brings a smile on your face and you can watch on a rainy day. Although I'm not a fan of Russian movies it made me search for other Russian movies and this one remains a "must see". I really liked the male character and his clumsiness and also the shyness of the female main character and to observe people way of thinking and ethics of that period . I'd watched it again in a few years!