''Winter Cherry'' (russian: Зимняя вишня, Zimnyaya vishnya) is a 1985
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
directed by
Igor Maslennikov
Igor Fyodorovich Maslennikov (russian: Игорь Фёдорович Масленников; 26 October 1931 – 17 September 2022)
.
Plot
The main character of the film is Olga ( Yelena Safonova), a beautiful intelligent 30-year-old woman, resident of Soviet
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
who is a scientific researcher employed at an institute. She is divorced and is a single mother to her 5-year-old son Anton (Mikhail Poduschak). Olga tries to arrange her personal life and longs for happiness which she would attain with a loved one. Family, just like Homeland has to exist! Otherwise life makes no sense – muses the young woman. All her neighbor-friends are likewise unhappy in love; childless daycare educator Valya ( Larisa Udovichenko) cohabiting with crude hockey player Alexander (Sergey Parshin), accountant of a carpool Larissa (
Nina Ruslanova
Nina Ivanovna Ruslanova (russian: Нина Ивановна Русланова; 5 December 1945 – 21 November 2021) was a Soviet and Russian theater and film actress. She was honored as a People's Artist of Russia (1998).Vitaly Solomin
Vitaly Mefodievich Solomin (russian: link=no, Виталий Мефодьевич Соломин; 12 December 194127 May 2002) was a Soviet and Russian actor, director and screenwriter, best remembered for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock ...
).
Olga leaves her son for five days at a kindergarten and tries to arrange her life. First off an old bachelor Veniamin (
Alexander Lenkov
Alexander Sergeyevich Lenkov (russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Ленько́в; 17 May 1943 – 21 April 2014) was a Soviet-Russian film, stage and voice actor. He is probably best known for his voice acting in animated fil ...
) appears in her life, who is seemingly writing his thesis. In his 36 years, the man has never been married (still lives with his mother), and in general has a very naive view about family life. After their first evening together, he silently leaves the apartment of Olga, and then she has to urgently pick up Anton from the daycare.
Then in the woman's life prince charming appears; an imposing Muscovite Herbert (
Ivars Kalniņš
Ivars Edmunds Kalniņš (born 1 August 1948) is a Latvian film and television actor. He graduated in 1974 from the Jāzeps Vītols Theatre Department of the Latvian Conservatory. He had already started acting however in 1972 at the Artistic Acade ...
), working partially in the city and in Switzerland. He is handsome, intelligent, and well off. Even Larissa who regards all men with severe skepticism thinks that her friend has finally found a real man. When Olga and Anton leave for Moscow together with Herbert, Vadim finally understands who and what he loses... Olga gets rid of the prospective groom and returns with Anton and lover to Leningrad. However, the illusion of happiness does not last long. With the hope to find true love and a new father for Anton, Olga again remains alone with her son.
Vitaly Solomin
Vitaly Mefodievich Solomin (russian: link=no, Виталий Мефодьевич Соломин; 12 December 194127 May 2002) was a Soviet and Russian actor, director and screenwriter, best remembered for playing Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock ...
as Vadim Dashkov
*
Ivars Kalniņš
Ivars Edmunds Kalniņš (born 1 August 1948) is a Latvian film and television actor. He graduated in 1974 from the Jāzeps Vītols Theatre Department of the Latvian Conservatory. He had already started acting however in 1972 at the Artistic Acade ...
as Gerbert
*
Nina Ruslanova
Nina Ivanovna Ruslanova (russian: Нина Ивановна Русланова; 5 December 1945 – 21 November 2021) was a Soviet and Russian theater and film actress. She was honored as a People's Artist of Russia (1998).Larisa Udovichenko as Valya
*
Alexander Lenkov
Alexander Sergeyevich Lenkov (russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Ленько́в; 17 May 1943 – 21 April 2014) was a Soviet-Russian film, stage and voice actor. He is probably best known for his voice acting in animated fil ...
as Veniamin
*
Sergey Parshin Sergey may refer to:
* Sergey (name), a Russian given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Sergey, Switzerland, a municipality in Switzerland
* ''Sergey'' (wasp), a genus in subfamily Doryctinae
The Doryctinae or doryctine wasps are ...
as Aleksandr
*
Alla Osipenko
Alla Yevgenyevna Osipenko (Russian:Алла Евгеньевна Осипенко , born 16 June 1932 in Leningrad) is a retired Soviet ballerina. She studied at the Leningrad Choreographic School (now Vaganova Academy) in the class of Agrippina ...
Natalya Andrejchenko
Natalya Eduardovna Andreychenko (russian: link=no, Ната́лья Эдуа́рдовна Андре́йченко; born May 3, 1956) is a Russian actress. Her most famous roles include the title character in ''Mary Poppins, Goodbye'' and Lyuba ...
and Sergey Shakurov. But at the last moment Andrejchenko refused to play and moved to the US with
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was an Austrian-born Swiss actor, who also wrote, directed and produced some of his own films. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film ''Judgment at Nuremberg'', h ...
, and the role of Olga has been rewritten for Safonova. Shakurov barely starting his acting, also refused to work in the film, and the role of Vadim was approved for Vitaly Solomin, who had spent several years working with the director on the set of films from the series ''
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson'' (russian: link=no, italics=yes, Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона) is a series of Soviet television films portraying Arthur Conan Doyle's ficti ...
''. Nevertheless, in a scene on a fishing trip, where Vadim and Olga kissing, showing legs Shakurov.