Character actors: "Almost a funny story" - the triumph of yesterday's supporting actors

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The success of TV movies is usually the actors. “Almost a funny story” is a TV story where everything coincided: an extraordinary director (Pyotr Fomenko), interesting material (script by Emil Braginsky), amazing music (songs by S. Nikitin and V. Berkovsky) and masters of close-up, captivating the audience with silent monologue scenes conveying the whole palette of emotions. Surprisingly, almost all of them are character actors with no leading role experience.

Plot of the picture

Viktor Meshkov, a safety engineer, had a peace of mind, but it became one continuous hassle. The desire to help one of the sisters carry a suitcase during a business trip to Drevnegorsk, an inconspicuous city on the Volga, changed everything. The usual male act caused so many subsequent events that Meshkov exclaimed in despair: “It seems to me that now I will carry your suitcase all my life!”. But the main consequence is loveeccentric Illaria Pavlovna, a lonely woman with a bitter fate.

Over the course of two series, the audience develops a romance between the unsociable, gloomy engineer Meshkov and the eccentric draftsman Illaria, who lives in the family of her artist sister, turning into her housekeeper and nanny. The couple constantly finds themselves in comic situations, so the genre of the television picture is a comedy, but the actors of the film “Almost a funny story”, together with magical songs performed by the Nikitins, turn it into a melodrama that resonates in the heart of every viewer.

The magic of the duet of Mikhail Gluzsky and Olga Antonova

In 1977, when the picture appeared on the screen, Mikhail Gluzsky (Meshkov) turned 59 years old. The actor never knew what a creative downtime is. But despite the impressive filmography, he had few truly star roles in the cinema, and fame came only at forty after the role of Yesaul in The Quiet Don. Playing secondary characters, he was remembered by a piercing look from under thick eyebrows, representing everyone: from peasants to nobles. But there was no real love story in his arsenal yet. Putting “on Gluzsky” was a certain risk, because there are more proven age actors. “Almost a funny story” is the creative success of the paradoxical Fomenko, who presented the famous artist in a new role.

In the awakening of feelings in this man, resigned to loneliness, the viewer immediately believed and sympathized with the hero so much,that the trick of the ex alted Illaria Pavlovna, who decided to disappear from his life, did not leave anyone indifferent. For Olga Antonova, an actress of the St. Petersburg Comedy Theater, this role was a television debut. She recalls that at first Gluzsky himself did not like her candidacy. He grumbled at the director that she was too young for this role. There was a difference of 20 years between them. But he was besieged by the cameraman: "Could your hero fall unconscious in love with the right old aunt?".

Olga Antonova played the wrong woman, sublime nature, vulnerable, some kind of "fabulous elf", defenseless and gullible. Her image unusually coincided with the song to the verses of Novella Matveeva “I sculpt from plasticine” and convinced the viewer that only such a woman could stir up the main character of the comedy “Almost a funny story.”

Actors who created unforgettable images

Meshkov's colleague named Lazarenko, who played an important role in connecting the main characters, was performed by BDT artist from St. Petersburg Mikhail Danilov. And the sister of Illaria Pavlovna Taisia is Lyudmila Arinina. Both of these actors have already starred with Fomenko in the TV series "For the rest of my life" and were in absolute harmony with his bold directorial idea. Some of the best dialogues in the film are Lazarenko's communication with Illaria Pavlovna in the dining room and his conversation with Meshkov in Moscow. He was the first to believe in the feelings of a woman and his question after her assertion that he had a good heart: “Who has it? Meshkov's?” is not just surprise. This unexpected discovery that love can work wonders: "You talk about himinspired!”.

Lyudmila Arinina by the beginning of filming had already developed the role of a lonely woman, heroically overcoming life's difficulties. The film "Almost Funny Story" changed everything. Actors and roles intertwined here is absolutely amazing. One gets the feeling that each of his hero was infinitely close and understandable. The artist, the heroine Arinina, paradoxically combined creativity and dedication to the chosen work with responsibility for her sister, whom she took upon herself, considered more successful and experienced. Her Taisia with the concepts: “You are gullible, and he is burned out!” Does not meet with the understanding of the audience. But the actress managed to show an internal rethinking of the developing events, and the viewer manages to discern the sadness in her eyes and even some envy of her sister. Surprisingly, the actress herself will meet her true happiness only at the age of 60.

"Almost a funny story": actors and supporting roles

Among episodic roles there are truly legendary actors. "Almost a funny story" will leave in memory the image of Maria Mironova, the mother of Andrei Mironov, who played the postal operator. The train conductor was skillfully presented by Svetlana Kharitonova, who showed true female solidarity towards Illaria Pavlovna and witnessed the happiest moments of her life. Everything that she imagined on the train and imagined as having actually happened, will happen in front of the astonished sister and conductor - a woman who has lost faith in simple human happiness and seems to be regaining hope.

A memorable image of a seeker of male attention was created by Lyudmila Polyakova, who in several episodes showed such longing in her eyes that she could not help but arouse sympathy from the audience. The business traveler "with a sign of quality" was superbly played by Valentin Gaft, ridiculing the representatives of the strong half, who promote double morality. All these people indirectly contributed to the awakening of feelings for each other on the part of not very young people.

Young generation

Meshkov's daughter was played in the film by an unknown actress Maria Velikanova. This role will remain her only film role, although her later life will be connected with television and the film industry, but already as an artist. She is married to the famous actor and TV presenter Sergei Kolesnikov. Her married boyfriend named Tolik, an obsessive, but memorable personality, was played by Vladimir Puchkov. After a number of bright films, he focused his attention on teaching, being currently a professor at GITIS.

The film is unique in that absolutely all the actors turned out to be harmonious in their place. “Almost a Funny Story” is a film work in the spirit of “The Irony of Fate”, it’s just that its rolling fate is not so happy. Those who managed to see the picture cannot forget it. The film, which revealed the talent of yesterday's supporting actors, truly heals the soul, charging with hope and optimism.