''Flights in Dreams and Reality'' (russian: Полёты во сне и наяву, Polyoty vo sne i nayavu) is a 1983

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Roman Balayan Roman Gurgenovich Balayan ( hy, Ռոման Գուրգենի Բալայան, russian: Рома́н Гурге́нович Балая́н; born 15 April 1941, Nerkin Horatagh, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian-Armeni ...

, written by

Viktor Merezhko Viktor Ivanovich Merezhko (russian: Виктор Иванович Мережко; 28 July 1937 – 30 January 2022) was a Soviet and Russian screenwriter, filmmaker, playwright, actor, writer, and television presenter. He was awarded the honorar ...

, dealing with the subject matter of

midlife crisis A midlife crisis is a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle age, middle-aged individuals, typically 40 to 60 years old. The phenomenon is described as a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a pe ...

. The film features many highly acclaimed Soviet/Russian actors, with

Oleg Yankovsky Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (russian: Оле́г Ива́нович Янко́вский; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russia, Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectu ...

in the starring role, as well as

Lyudmila Gurchenko Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko (née Gurchenko; russian: link=no, Людмила Марковна Гурченко; 12 November 1935 – 30 March 2011) was a popular Soviet and Russian actress, singer and entertainer. She was given the honorary title ...

Oleg Tabakov Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov (russian: Олег Павлович Табаков; 17 August 1935 – 12 March 2018) was a Soviet and Russian actor and the Artistic Director of the Moscow Art Theatre. People's Artist of the USSR (1988). Biography Tabak ...

Aleksandr Adabashyan Aleksandr Artyomovich Adabashyan ( rus, Алекса́ндр Артёмович Адабашья́н; born August 10, 1945, MoscowOleg Tabakov Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov (russian: Олег Павлович Табаков; 17 August 1935 – 12 March 2018) was a Soviet and Russian actor and the Artistic Director of the Moscow Art Theatre. People's Artist of the USSR (1988). Biography Tabak ...

) loves her but without reciprocation. Alice has one boyfriend, a young guy (

Oleg Menshikov Oleg Evgenyevich Menshikov, PAR (russian: Оле́г Евге́ньевич Ме́ньшиков, link=no; born 8 November 1960) is a Russian actor, theatre director and occasional singer. He is the current artistic director of the Yermolova Thea ...

), slickly wooing her. He easily wins against Sergei in

arm wrestling Arm wrestling (also spelled armwrestling) is a sport with two opponents who face each other with their bent elbows placed on a table and hands firmly gripped, who then attempt to force the opponent's hand down to the table top ("pin" them). The s ...

, to which Sergei responds with shouting "cock-a-doodle-doo" under the table at his birthday party, to which all colleagues and his young sweetheart are invited. The main character of the film begins to experience a middle-age crisis; it seems that a big part of everything he wanted, is in fact, nothing more than empty vanity. Constant feeling of discomfort and dissatisfaction makes the hero rush between the people and do strange things in the hope that there will be a change in his life, that something will happen what was previously unavailable. "Oh, Sergei, Sergei, how jealous I was of you in college, ... but now, I regret it, everything about your life is topsy-turvy, – says Sergei's boss, Nicholai Pavlovich in a conversation in the kitchen, thus explaining Sergei's strange behavior which is evident to everyone. – Well, you are sick Sergei, do you not comprehend this?"

Cast

as Sergei Makarov *

as Larisa Kuzmina, Makarov's colleague and former lover *

as Nikolai Pavlovich, Makarov's boss *

Lyudmila Ivanova Lyudmila Ivanovna Ivanova (russian: Людмила Ивановна Иванова; 22 June 1933 – 7 October 2016) was a Soviet and Russian film and stage actress, People's Artist of the RSFSR (1989). She was awarded the Order of Honour and the ...

as Nina, Makarov's colleague * Lyudmila Zorina as Natasha, Makarov's wife * Elena Kostina as Alice Suvorov, Makarov's mistress (voiced by

Yelena Koreneva Yelena Alekseyevna Koreneva (russian: Еле́на Алексе́евна Ко́ренeва; born October 3, 1953, Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress, writer, film director and screenwriter. Yelena Koreneva starred in more th ...

) *

as Sergei Sinitsyn, Alice's friend * Lybov Rudneva as Svetlana, Makarov's colleague *

Aleksandr Adabashyan Aleksandr Artyomovich Adabashyan ( rus, Алекса́ндр Артёмович Адабашья́н; born August 10, 1945, Moscow

as director * Elena Mikhailova as railway points operator (E. Cherniak, uncredited) * Alena Odinokova as Masha, Makarov's daughter * Valery Panarin as Makarov's friend

Production

Famous actor/director

Nikita Mikhalkov Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov (russian: Никита Сергеевич Михалков; born 21 October 1945) is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union. Mikhalkov is a three-time laureate of the ...

makes a cameo appearance in the film, playing a film director. The role of Sergei Makarov was originally designed with him in mind. But when working on the script, director Roman Balayan saw the TV film "We, the Undersigned" starring Oleg Yankovsky and decided that he should play the main character.

Release and awards

The film was not made available until early 1983, initially being granted a very limited release, and was not widely seen until the time of

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

. With the film being exposed to larger audiences, it went on to gain critical acclaim. Yankovsky received the 1987

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

for his role. At the time of its release, politically minded viewers perceived it as a critique of Brezhnevian “stagnation”.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0084518 1983 drama films Soviet drama films Russian drama films 1983 films Films directed by Roman Balayan