Movie Sets used

Politicans,KGB oficcers, factory bosses, academics, criminals, sport or movie(pop)stars always lived in fine conditions may be even better than this movie shows. Sport cars, drugs and luxuries - all was there. Simple workers, farmers, alcoholics and so on.. of course lived in even worse conditions. People shown in the movie are respectable soviet citizens at the peek of their carrer, so it looks realistic in this case. Like in every country you made your lifestyle by your hands in USSR, so this is a one of plotlines in the movie. No difference if compared to any civilized capitalist country, but one exception: No official millionaries and no official poors, balanced golden middle situation, but that was only official.. Movie of course shows better than average lifestyle, but it was possible to achieve it if you working hard and creating something for the soviet society,instead of drinking vodka with bums or go to work only to chat with co-workers or to read magazines.

Perhaps I am being too critical of what the movie shows, but it seems to me that they were showing a "utopia" that did not accurately reflect the lifestyle of most people then in that city<<

I've never been in moscow but I've seen a few number of russian movies and have a few russian friends.

First the apartments are almost characters in this movie....all of the apartments contrasting to a workers dorm where three grown people share a room and apparently everyone shares a phone....where later a single parent brings her baby...implying that this is HOW lower level factory workers actually live .....even those with kids.

the appartment of the Uncle a proffessor apparently of some major importance ( with an implication that he was important in the communist party as well since his place is indeed obviously extreemly luxurious and we KNOW in that era only VERY importamt people got apartments like that. It is so luxious that it becomes involved in the plot in a big time lie...with the girls trying to pass it off as the family home to get better boyfriends..

.and it works!!!


contrast it with The tv camermans family apartment. The mother mentions how Posh "the professors" apartment is. I read in some review that the mother is "well connected" yet apparently still they are in a cramped communal apartment..we dont get to see their shared kitchen but it is implied...Later the mother says to katarina "I've had enough of communal apartments...4 people in our place is enough....WHO is the 4th who is not invited to the Meeting dinner? perhaps a worker who had a "boarder" type relationship?..( or perhaps an absent daughter who is the mother of the kid who seems WAY too young to be her son or the kid brother of the cameraman?? So its either a communal pad or a 3 generation one...and OBVIOUSLY Very cramped.

A Very crowded wedding scene ( apparently the grooms parents apartment) shows a table that almost fills two rooms as it fits throught the doorway...That probably IS how Moscow appartments accomodeated celebrations


Then jump ahead to Katya as mature single parent DIRECTOR OF A BIG FACTORY..very important person that a tv station wants to make a documentary film about...SHE is sleeping on a pull out in the living room of a mid size one bedroom apartment? eAT IN KITCHEN ..NO DINING ROOM. Certainly NOT luxurious to american standards but WAY WAY better than her love interest Gosha'S. He lives in a cruddy little room in a cruddy communal apartment with at least two old ladies probably more..His opinion of Katyas apartment ( with the sleep sofa) is WOW!

It is IMPLIED that if even a DEEPLY respected master level worker who has "golden hands" whose creations are central to the work of many PHD's and Scientists who are his dear frends.. ...this is what THAT level guy gets to live in... a cruddy room...and regular level factory workers live in dorms....and factory directors sleep on a sleep sofAin the smallish living room...

well how is THAT a Utopia??? ..Certainly more realistic than most holywood movies which ALWAYS show regular Americans living in millionaire houses. How often do we see TV sshows with not rich characters livieng in NYC apartments with expansive views and skylights that you KNOW wouod cost 3 million bucks minimum ( or rent for ten grand a month)

I suspect it's relatively realistic

and I'm going to KEEP my netflix dvd another day to show to my RUSSIAN Phd chemist friend who lived in Moscow durring that whole 20 year period... and get back to you all!

Quote: " Even now, most people live in flats (apartments) that are hardly as nice as what the movie shows. Perhaps I am being too critical..."


Which flat in the film can be called nice?

The only great apartment in this film is the the academician's!! He is an ACADEMICIAN, and he lives in the Building on Krasnaya Presnya -- one of the seven Stalin's skyscrapers in Moscow. Apartments in that building are intended for VIP's and are indeed beautiful.

But how are other flats you see in this film? Do you see where Katya, the factory director, lives? A two-room flat no more than 80 square meters. And she sleeps in the living room on a divan convertible to a bed.

I am not a Russian but I lived in Moscow for several years (I witnessed the poor Moscow in 90's and the sumptuous nowaday Moscow). The sets of this great film look very authentic to me.

By the way, you posted in the year of 2006 (I was still in Moscow that year). Perhaps you didn't know at that time how wealthily many Muscovites live! So you were completely wrong to write "Even now, most people live in flats that are hardly as nice as..." Way too wrong.

My grandmother who is in her 60s had a very similar life to Katerina's in the late 50s and 70s. She and her husband and were college students that received stipends as well as working part-time jobs while raising my mother and her little brother. When we watched this movie together (about 1 millions times) she kept reminiscing and being nostalgic. She said that the movie is completely accurate. Students lived in dorms or communal housing if they were not married. The married couples, if they were lucky enough, would receive a small apartment from the government. Katerina's one bedroom apartment is a huge luxury for someone at her career level. Pay attention to her fancy furniture and brand new car. For a woman to own and drive a car during the 70s was unheard of! While she didn't have a bedroom of her own, you can tell that she lived very well. I don't want to ramble on, but my grandmother told me that the movie was very well done and it's one of her favorites. I asked her if the movie sets were appropriate with the times and she agreed. Hope this little walk down memory lane helped!

from what i have been told, it was a completely realistic portrayal of life in the 1950's as well as the 1970's.
of course not everyone lived like that, but you have to keep in mind that the apartment both girls stayed in belonged a couple that was surely in the elite class, even at that time. and katya's apartment, in the later scenes did not just happen upon the lead character as a blessing, she worked and studied really hard to achieve a status that could help her afford such a nice home.

those are such little details, in my opinion they are not worth paying so much attention to. life back then wasn't easy, but it wasnt impossible - this movie is a living example of that single fact.

Agreed completely with those others on here that the flats and generally movie sets are absolutely accurate.

I'd also like to add that, Katerina's apartment is considered one of the finest despite the fact that she has to sleep in the so-called "living room".
One thing to bear in mind when thinking "Soviet flats", is that there were no living rooms as they are known in the West.
Katerina has a "2-room flat", which is how one would refer to it anywhere in Russia. It means there were 2 rooms and both rooms could be used as bedrooms if necessary, and one (the bigger one) could be something like a living room, in case guests visited, etc. But overall, people never spoke of their flats as 2- or 3-bedroom flats. Simply because it was not common.
Occasionally, there was a truly real living room in an apartment, but that would have to have at least 4 rooms. In that case, the way it was planned, would have made the biggest room - a living room. The rest would be bedrooms. I had a couple of friends in my childhood who were living in flats like this.
Our family had a 2-room flat, much like Katerina's in the film, and there were 4 of us (my parents, my brother and I). So naturally, we couldn't even dream of any "living rooms": one room (the smaller one) was used by me and my brother and the other one (the slightly bigger one) was where my parents slept. That room also had a TV and my piano, so I guess at times it could become a living room :-)

The most important thing is that to us this kind of setup was perfectly normal. We never thought that it was a big problem or anything. In fact, now that I have lived abroad for a long time, I have not changed my opinion too much.