Purely Joyful Movie!

Nice effects though.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Seeing this, without exaggeration, a brilliant film by Eldar Ryazanov, I first thought of how valuable in a human's life can be love. It is a feeling that cannot be expressed in words and to understand the mind — you need to trust only your heart. This feel really changes the man, it reveals its best features, and the inclination of the face, which he had not even suspected — it happened with the main characters Anatoly Efremovich and Ludmila Prokofievna (Alisa Freindlich and Andrey Myagkov perfectly demonstrated the fullness of the feelings of the two lovers). Svetlana Nemolyaeva was also incredibly sincere — I got her a feeling of emptiness and ordinariness of everyday life, the desire to return to the past and a terrible disappointment, and from the man who once was everything to her... Music composer Andrei Petrov and texts of the poems create a memorable impression — happiness is actually very close to us, just need to learn how to see. The eternal quest of man in the vast world itself often lead him to a standstill, and how wise and happy are those who see in man not only the outer shell, but also his mental, personal qualities (Novoseltsev), and those who use the feelings of others only for the benefit of themselves, do not know the true prices of sincere relations is empty in a moral sense (Samokhvalov).The one and only masterpiece, which never gets old — thank you so much, Master of the human souls, Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov! A modern interpretation (re-make), so-called "Office Romance: Present Day", in my opinion, even not comes close to the original film and, of course, something big and innovative is not intended.

Eldar Ryazanov's "Sluzhebnyy roman" ("Office Romance" in English) had me properly fooled early on. I assumed that it was going to be a Soviet version of "The Apartment". It turns out that there's a number of surprises on the way, many of them cartoonish. This story of a love affair between maladroit statistician Anatoly Novoseltsev (Andrey Myagkov) and stern boss Lyudmila Kalugina (Alisa Freindlich) hits all the right notes. Overall it comes across as a spoof of day-to-day work in the Soviet Union. It could easily get shown as a double-bill with "The Apartment", "9 to 5", or the opening segment in Monty Python's "Meaning of Life". Really funny.

Office Romance is a film in two parts about the relationship between Ludmila Kalugina, the director of a statistical bureau, and her employee, Anatoly Novoseltsev. The film starts off with Anatoly who is trying to get a promotion and a raise for his children. After some advice from an old friend, and newly appointed co-director Yuri Samokhvalov, Anatoly attempts to flirt with Ludmila leading to some hilarious antics. Although this film was relatively long it did not seem to drag on and kept the viewer interested by focusing on the relationship between the characters and their development as well. The office, which is the main stage of action, is not only a setting, but also a place of observation. Throughout many of the scenes we are shown the office life and this helps the viewer get an idea of how people lived during this era. Office Romance also does a good job of interweaving multiple subplots throughout the film like the story of Yuri and Olga. The montage scenes interspersed throughout the film helped to convey the passage of time, but also helped to establish the mood of the following scenes. For example, the montage scene, which shows the rainy weather and a melancholy song, helps set the somber tone of the next scene involving Yuri and Olga, and his rejection of her love letters. Although it is classified as a romantic comedy, it surpasses that genre and through genuine characters and touching scenes this film is able to delve into deeper, more meaningful themes that are not often addressed in romantic comedies.

Sweet memories for kids like me growing up seeing Soviet films in China during 80's. Thanks to those people doing translations and voices, I found this one so enjoyable. Otherwise, I believe it would be impossible for me to laugh so much when seeing this movie. So many great films from Soviet Union...