federovsky Two periods in the life of a Russian woman trying to find romance. The title seems to come from a Eurovision-type song, though it's not clear exactly who or what 'Moscow' is meant to represent - the Kremlin perhaps. It's a long film but maintains momentum after a manic start and few scenes outstay their welcome - many skip onto the next before we're ready. There's a thick overlay of tacky music, sometimes inappropriate, and loads of dismal but fascinating 70s interior décor. The Russians too are a strange bunch, especially in the brusque way they treat strangers that seems to come from a 'don't-expect-anything-from-me' kind of social inhibition rather than hostility. But this is basically soap opera and the psychology is unconvincing. The woman is formidable at her job, rising from factory worker to some kind of director - almost a national celebrity - yet all the while floundering in her emotional life. She is cold, severe and humourless in the office. If that was meant to represent some spiritual sacrifice, it didn't come across. The little wistfulness in her personality is hardly enough to make her likable. You could pick any woman off the street and find a more involving story. In Part 1 she gets pregnant first time over "Besame Mucho" (it always works) to a guy who's not interested in her. Part 2 resumes 17 or so years later when she finally meets that rare commodity, a decent guy - giving us two emotionally charged bookends to a bleak, workaday, if economically comfortable life. Mr Perfect though is annoying in his unconventional charm and the film gets a little wayward towards the end. This beat "The Last Metro" and "Kagemusha" to the best foreign language Oscar in 1980 - no doubt because it portrayed the Soviets as human and fallible as everyone else, which must have been a relief to the rest of the world.

MartinHafer I did not love "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" but did like it and appreciate it. I am confused, however, that it is apparently the second biggest Russian film ever according to IMDb--it didn't seem THAT good. Regardless, it's a film where the second half if MUCH better than the first and so my advice is to stick with it--it's worth the lengthy running time.The film begins in 1958. Three women share a tiny single room in a dormitory for folks working lower-paying jobs. Two of the ladies take a vacation, of sorts, to a nice fashionable apartment--they are apartment sitting. During this time, they make a fateful decision--they pretend that they are higher-class ladies. Soon they attract a couple men who think they are professional ladies--not women from blue-collar jobs. When one of them, Katia, becomes pregnant and her working-class roots are exposed, the man refuses to marry her and they go their separate ways.About 20 years pass. Katia has a daughter and she never has married. Her prospects for love are bleak--especially since she now has risen way up the ranks and it's even harder for a successful career woman to attract a man. What will happen next? Tune in and see.Overall, this is a very good film that unfolds VERY slowly. It's a film you've just gotta stick with, as the acting and eventually the story pay off. Worth seeing...but the second highest grossing Russian film?!

bulya2 I've seen this movie many many times. But many times I've noticed some details in the plot which made me estimating again what is really happening there, and what were the writer's main idea in such a plot. The acting is also brilliant, and after seeing this movie several times, each another time makes me thinking again about my and our life, and also about the type of the gender relationships which concerns lies.The story begins in the late 50's, and the first part concerns the lives of the characters at their early 20's. Then, the film jumps about 20 years forward, and the second part concerns the lives of the characters at their late 30's (or early 40's). The first time you see this movie, most of the interest is how did the lives changed over the 20 years, and what kind of an end the movie has. But it turns out that almost every scene and cite play an important role there, and after seeing it a few times I noticed that the movie is not just about the tales of the three girls and how does lives change.For example, each of the parts is built by a pattern where the first half tells about the lives of the three girls, and the second half tells about Katya's (main character's) relationship with a boyfriend. In each of the parts the relationship isn't built in a pure way, since Katya must hide some facts about her (and even lie) to make sure everything will go on (I think this is the reason for making Gosha a macho man, and seeing it again you may find out what makes him behave like that). But in the two parts there are different kind of lies and relationships, and I think that makes the writer to put different endings at the parts. Although the first part has a sad end (what also reflects Katya's life further), in the second part the relationship doesn't break after Katya's boyfriend finds the truth about her.Besides this example, there are many other topics about life which this film concerns. Seeing it enough times makes you sure that Gosha isn't as awful as he seems to be at the first time you see the movie (his past is barley mentioned, but when you find it out, it clears the scene where he meets Nikolay, and what will be afterwards), and therefore the ending may be concerned "good".Again, this film may be watched again and again, in a very entertaining way, and each time telling you more about the plot. I think that such a film is a masterpiece.

Dennis Littrell This is one of the most captivating love stories I've ever seen on film. It starts with a young woman (Katya, played by Vera Alentova) reporting to her Worker's Dormitory friends that she has flunked by two points the exam to get into university. It ends with the most incredible sweetness of life.It is like a French film done by a Russian company (which is what it is). The Moscow we see that does not believe in tears does believe in love, and it is not a Moscow of politics, although some people do call one another "comrade." This is a woman's point of view film (a "chick flick") that transcends any genre cage. It begins slowly, almost painfully dull in a way that will remind the viewer of all the clichés about Russia, the unstylish dress, the worker's paradise that isn't, the sharp contrast between Moscow and the peasants who live outside the city. Katya works in a factory. She works at a drill press. She is obviously underemployed. Lyudmila (Irina Muravyova) works in a bakery. She is probably gainfully employed for the time and place. They are friends, twentysomethings who are on the make for a man, but not a man from the sticks. They pretend to be university post docs or something close to that and they impress some people as they house-sit a beautiful Moscow apartment.This is how their adult life begins in a sense. Lyudmila falls in love with an athlete; Katya becomes infatuated with a television cameraman. One thing leads to another and before we know it they are forty. Neither relationship worked out. The athlete becomes an alcoholic, the cameraman, in the sway of his mother, believes that Katya is beneath him (once he finds out that she works in a factory). How wrong he is, of course.But no more of the plot. I won't spoil it. The plot is important. The characterizations are important. The story is like a Russian novel in that it spans lots of time, but once you are engaged you will find that the two and a half hours fly by and you will, perhaps like me, say at the end "What a great movie!" My hat is off to director Vladimir Menshov and to Valentin Chernykh who wrote the script and to the cast. I've mentioned Vera Alentova and Irina Muravyova, but Aleksey Batlov who played Gosha was also excellent. I don't want to say anymore. Just watch the film. It is one of the best I've ever seen.(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)