The film 'Love and Pigeons' (1984) — one of the most beloved comedies of Soviet cinema — was created with the participation of notable artists, in unusual settings, and with interesting filming techniques, and it still evokes lively interest from audiences and film critics.
The script for the film, directed by Vladimir Menshov, was based on a play by Vladimir Gurkin, inspired by real events from the lives of the playwright's acquaintances. The characters Vasily and Nadezhda Kuzyakins were named and characterized after the author's family history, and the scenes of family dialogues were close and understandable to the audience.
The casting for the film faced difficulties: the actor for the main role of Vasily, Alexander Mikhailov, initially could not shoot due to a tight schedule at the theater, and the actress for the role of Baba Shura was hard to find until Natalia Tenyakova — the wife of Sergey Yursky, who played Uncle Mitya — took on the role. Raisa Zakharovna was played by Lyudmila Gurchenko, who became one of the central comedic figures of the film.
The main scenes were filmed in early summer 1984 in the Republic of Karelia, in the small town of Medvezhyegorsk. The production team chose picturesque riverbank areas of the Kumsa River, where they rented a private house and built a pigeon loft characteristic of the plot. Pigeons for the shooting were brought from Moscow, and wooden decking typical of rural areas was specially laid out in the yard.
Observers and participants in the work recalled that the atmosphere on set was friendly: actors often improvised, and many catchy phrases — including Uncle Mitya's lines — were born right during the filming.
In late autumn, the film crew moved south — to shoot the resort episodes of the plot. These scenes were filmed in Batumi and Kobuleti (Adjara, Georgia), where the temperature conditions were far from tropical: the water in the Black Sea was cold, and the actors had to work in challenging conditions.
An interesting detail of the production was the scene of Vasily falling into the sea: it was planned that the hero would come out of the water in different clothes, and for this, divers worked near the actor, helping him change underwater.
The premiere of the film took place on January 7, 1985, and the film immediately became a popular hit: in the first years of its release, it was watched by hundreds of millions of viewers, and certain phrases and scenes continue to be quoted by film fans in the 21st century.
Today, the main filming locations in Karelia have undergone changes: the house where key scenes were filmed has burned down and been rebuilt, but the recreated pigeon loft continues to attract tourists and fans of the film.
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