“Irony of Fate” in America entered the list of the best New Year’s films

The Hollywood Reporter ranked the best Christmas-themed films made outside the US

Experts from one of the world’s most respected film publications, The Hollywood Reporter, have compiled a list of 12 New Year’s and Christmas-themed films from different years, filmed outside the United States. Among them is the Soviet hit “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” Eldar Ryazanov, released on January 1, 1976.

A shot from the film with Zhenya Lukashin – Andrey Myagkov and Nadya Sheveleva – Barbara Brylska is accompanied by an abstract. In addition to a brief retelling of the content, it is indicated that the film contains songs, including those based on lyrical poems by the author of Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak.

In the list of favorites – a very diverse and interesting selection. First of all, the masterpiece of the Finnish classic Aki Kaurismäki “The Match Factory Girl”, filmed in 1990, as well as “8 Women” by the French director Francois Ozon in 2002 with the participation of Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert and the stars of subsequent generations are named. Here and “101 Reykjavik” by Icelander Baltasar Kormakur in 2000 with Victoria Abril in the title role, and “Merry Christmas” in 2005 by French director Christian Karion with Diane Kruger. According to the plot, representatives of different nations celebrate Christmas in the trenches of the First World War, leaving their weapons for a while. American experts also chose two animated films: the 2019 Spanish feature film Klaus produced by Netflix and the 2003 Christmas anime Once Upon a Time in Tokyo by Satoshi Kon, where three homeless people find a newborn girl on Christmas Eve and search for her parents.

Black Christmas by Bob Clark came out in 1974. The film starred British actress Olivia Hussey, forever Juliet from Shakespeare’s film adaptation by Franco Zeffirelli. According to the plot, the students are going for the Christmas holidays, but their plans change, and slowly, one by one, the heroines begin to disappear. “Hope” by Norwegian screenwriter and director Maria Södal tells about the choreographer Anna, who returned home for Christmas. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and all this during the holidays. The main roles were played by magnificent Scandinavian actors actors Andrea Brian Hovig and Stellan Skarsgårdt.

Recall – “Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” Eldar Ryazanov graduated in the summer of 1975. The film was supposed to be released on television on January 1, 1976.

However, there was no absolute certainty that this would not happen, since there was talk that the picture could be slowed down, because they drink a lot in it, and this is propaganda of drunkenness. The situation worsened after the film was watched by the heads of the committees of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, who came to Moscow from all over the country. They expressed their unanimous “no”. But the all-powerful television official Sergei Lapin showed Ryazanov’s picture to Brezhnev, and he appreciated it.

All this happened in December. The fate of the “Irony of Fate”, one might say, was decided at the last moment. On the eve of the New Year, Ryazanov had to write down his opening speech twice, because the first time he “misspoke”, calling his film a Christmas fairy tale, which was then impossible, since religious holidays were not celebrated in the USSR. On the second attempt, Eldar Ryazanov described his picture as a New Year’s fairy tale and explained to Soviet viewers that drinking is not good, but sometimes you can. For the sake of re-recording, a large film crew was assembled in the studio, and it all happened on New Year’s Eve. Ryazanov’s speech from the wheels went on the air.