Office Romance
Office Romance Russian , translit.Sluzhebnyy roman is a Soviet comedy film directed by Eldar Ryazanov. It was filmed at Mosfilm and released in 1977. The films plot is based on the stageplay Coworkers Russian , translit.Sosluzhivtsy written by Eldar Ryazanov and Emil Braginsky, and tells the story of Ludmila Kalugina, a general manager of a statistical bureau, and her subordinate, economist Anatoly Novoseltsev, who come from mutual aversion to love.
The action takes place in Moscow in 1976. Anatoly Yefremovich Novoseltsev, a clumsy single father of two sons, works at a statistical bureau. His boss is a strict unmarried woman, Ludmila Prokofievna Kalugina, nicknamed our frump by her subordinates. She has some selfconfidence problems, hidden behind her gloomy humorless demeanor and plain oldfashioned look. Novoseltsevs colleagues consider him as a smart and experienced worker. He dreams about a promotion and a raise that would help him provide for his children, but he is too timid to talk to his boss about it. His former classmate and old friend, Yuri Grigorievich Samokhvalov, recently appointed assistant manager of the institution, suggests appointing Novoseltsev as a head of the light industry department, but Kalugina rejects it believing that Novoseltsev is not good enough for the position. Then, following Samokhvalovs advice, Novoseltsev unwillingly tries to flirt with the Frump at a party in Samokhvalovs apartment in order to get into contact with her. Feeling extremely uneasy he tries in vain to make conversation with her talks about random things such as picking berries and mushrooms, reads poetry, shows off his singing and dancing abilities in a very comical way, but Kalugina gets annoyed and severely criticizes all his attempts to impress her. Eventually Novoseltsev becomes frustrated, flares up and tells Kalugina right in her face that he considers her dry, inhuman and heartless.Next morning an embarrassed Novoseltsev comes to her office to apologize. Kalugina starts reprimanding him but then suddenly bursts into tears, revealing that his yesterday accusations hurt her. Novoseltsev is impressed and touched by discovering a delicate side of his bosss personality. They have a hearttoheart conversation in which Ludmila tells him about her lonely joyless life. From here on they start getting closer and soon fall in love with each other. It transforms both of them. For instance, Kalugina, having thrown off
Source: Wikipedia
