This film probably means nothing to you, but for me and other fans of Russian cinema, it’s quite a treasure.
I need some back story.
“The Irony of Fate” is a sentimental, bittersweet Russian holiday film. Without any doubt, it is the most-viewed film in the history of the Russian language. For nearly 50 years, it has been broadcast every New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in Russia, making it kind of their equivalent of It’s a Wonderful Life.
IMDb picks up the story:
The two consecutive episodes of The Irony of Fate were originally broadcast by the Soviet central television channel, Programme One, on 1 January 1976, at 18:00. The film was a resounding success with audiences: author Fedor Razzakov recalled that “virtually the entire country watched the show”; the number of viewers was estimated to have been about 100 million. In response to popular demand, the feature had a first re-run on 7 February. By 1978, after several further broadcasts of the picture, the accumulated number of viewers for all of the showings including the first was estimated at some 250 million.
It portrays a nostalgic look back at Soviet life, and includes many songs based on classic Russian poems. Generations of Russians know all of the songs, as Americans might with The Wizard of Oz. Sergei Nikitin, a famous Russian bard, sings many of those songs. I saw him in concert in Chicago about a decade ago, and as far as I could tell, every person in the audience sang along, many with tears in their eyes. (There is much melancholy stirred in with laughter and satire.)
The film, once beloved throughout the Soviet Union, is now controversial in Ukraine. The NY Times told this tale recently, and in the process, gave a great summary of the film and its cultural importance.
What does all of this have to do with Barbara Brylska?
Well, Brylska is the female lead in that beloved Russian musical comedy even though she doesn’t sing and doesn’t speak Russian! She tried, but her Polish accent was so strong that every single line had to be dubbed by a Russian actress. So how did she get the role? Don’t ask. It’s a whole thing. Suffice it to say that her casting was controversial.
Here is Brylska in one of the most famous musical montages from The Irony of Fate. I wish I could convey the emotion this song evokes for me and for many Russians, but I can’t. I guess you would need the context.
Weirdly enough, her performance in Pharaoh, as seen below, is also dubbed in Russian, even though it is a “classic” Polish movie about ancient Egypt! (It is in Polish originally.) In 1967, this film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it’s embarrassing to look at it with modern eyes, since all of the Polish performers, including Brylska, are acting in blackface! (This was common at the time. Lawrence Olivier was nominated for an Oscar for performing Othello in blackface in 1965.)
Bottom line: for those who love her in The Irony of Fate, it’s fun to see her this young and this (kinda) naked in 1080hd.
