Soul (film)

Victoria Svobodina is a young but already well-known Soviet singer , although her music group remains in the shadows. Sergey, the singer’s lover, leaves her for her own independent career, and, ultimately, becomes a musician in a small cafe.

Victoria's career is evolving, and her administrator Albert is organizing new concert performances. After a medical examination of a problem with her voice, she decides to take a break and inform the administrator about it. He urgently cancels all scheduled concerts. At the same time, she was persuaded to speak at the plenum of the Union of Composers of the USSR in order to save the young author from attacks, and only after the end of the number did she learn that the concert was broadcast live on the main channel of Soviet television . In addition, she receives a phone call from an old school friend who persuades her to record the final song for her film in a duet with young singer Vadim Starychev. After recording Victoria learns that he plays in a rock band, and accepts his offer to attend their concert.

Her administrator, Albert, finds out that she actually continues to sing, while he persuaded all the other clients to postpone their requests for her performances, and persuades her to give at least one concert with his band “Typhoon”. During this concert, the sound engineer of the group turns off the sound during the performance of the song “I live in hope”, but Victoria continues the concert without a microphone and, at first, without accompaniment at all, and then with easy accompaniment of the keyboards.

When Victoria and the band return from the concert, she stops the car, picks up posters with her image from the walls of the concert hall and leaves the band forever. Immediately after this, Victoria, without notifying anyone, leaves for a provincial seaside resort in the Baltic. The name of the film comes from the dialogue that takes place in the middle of the film between Victoria and an unknown old man in this isolated resort recreation area during a boat trip on the pier. Victoria confesses to him that she is afraid of losing her voice, and the stranger consoles her, saying that the singer’s songs will live as long as the singer’s soul remains alive. Then Victoria asks: “Soul? But where is this soul? ” Finally, the administrator finds her here on the Baltic coast, despite the fact that she lives here incognito. He informs her that an important international song contest will be held in Germany, and that her candidacy has been selected to represent the country at this event.

Victoria had no other choice and she left the resort with Albert. A new group was needed to participate in the competition, and the administrator found one unknown rock band playing on the outskirts of Moscow. Victoria first meets with the group and recognizes its leader - Vadim, although they do not show this with the administrator. The first meeting with the whole group failed, because the group members refused to sing in the style of Svobodina and doubted that she could sing in their style. Having departed from the base, Victoria unexpectedly returned and, tearing the microphone out of the hands of the amazed Vadim, she brilliantly performed the song “Barrier”. Rehearsals began, which took place in the attic of the " Olympic ".

Victoria is leaving with a new group ^[1] for Germany to participate in the Intermusik international song festival. In this part, a video was shot with musicians jumping on a trampoline. A few days before Victoria appeared at the festival, she falls in love with Vadim and moves away from her administrator, who saw in her only a "machine of fame." During a trip to the North Sea on a yacht, she loses consciousness due to an exacerbation of the disease. The German doctor who was on board discovers the true cause of her ailment - sick vocal cords and lungs, and advises her to stop singing immediately. Victoria demands that he be silent, appears on stage during an international competition and sings, losing his voice on the last chords. The final of the film was left open: according to one interpretation, she loses her voice completely, and according to another, the last chord is her triumphant performance at the competition.

• Sofia Rotaru - Victoria Viktorovna Svobodina, singer (voiced by Larisa Danilina )
• Rolan Bykov - Albert Leonidovich Grob, administrator Svobodinoy
• Mikhail Boyarsky - Vadim Starychev, lead singer and guitarist of the group
• Vyacheslav Spesivtsev - Sergey, husband of Svobodina
• Ivar Kalnins - Karl Norman, translator
• Leonid Obolensky - an old man by the sea
• Tatyana Aksyuta - Marinella Igorevna Rumpelshtamp
• Larisa Danilina - hotel administrator
• Anatoly Evdokimenko - head of the ensemble
• Alexander Zatsepin - sound engineer in the studio

group " Time Machine ":

• Andrey Makarevich - musician of the group
• Valery Efremov - musician of the group
• Alexander Kutikov - musician of the group
• Pyotr Podgorodetskiy - musician of the group
• Hovhannes Melik-Pashaev - musician of the group

In episodes

• Vadim Vilsky - Norman, music producer
• Eduard Ozeryansky
• K. Toothless
• Oleg Izmailov
• L. Bryzgalina
• Andrey Kartashov
• Gennady Korotkov
• Mikhail Solodukhin
• T. Kuzmichyova
• S. Solovyov
• Anna Kurgan
• Alexander Stefanovich - Seva (voiced by Alexander Belyavsky )
• N. Vershinina
• R. Liang
• Alexander Timofeev
• Dmitry Vershinin
• R. Matl
• Yuri Shakhnazarov
• Villen Novack
• Vladas Jurkinas
• Larisa Negreeva (uncredited)

• Script writers: Alexander Borodyansky , Alexander Stefanovich
• Director: Alexander Stefanovich
• Composers: Alexander Zatsepin , Andrey Makarevich, Alexander Kutikov
• Operator: Vladimir Klimov
• Set Designer: Alina Speshneva
• Costume Designer: Vladimir Ptitsyn
• Sound engineer: Victor Babushkin
• Editor: Esther Tobak
• Director of the picture: George Pastushkov

• Songs to the music of Alexander Zatsepin:
  • “My Song” to the poems of Robert Rozhdestvensky (Spanish “ a cappella ” by S. Rotaru; sounds in the instrumental version in the initial credits)
  • “I live in hope” on the verses of Igor Kokhanovsky (Spanish S. Rotaru)
  • “It's not about the weather” to verses by Igor Kokhanovsky (Spanish version S. Rotaru and M. Boyarsky)
• Songs of the “Time Machine” group - music and poems by Andrei Makarevich:
  • “Law” (Spanish M. Boyarsky, A. Makarevich and A. Kutikov)
  • "Running in a circle" (sounds off-screen in the performance of "Time Machine")
  • “Whom did you want to surprise” (Spanish M. Boyarsky and A. Kutikov)
  • “Barrier” (Spanish: S. Rotaru)
  • “Bonfire” (Spanish: S. Rotaru)
  • “The Way” (Spanish: S. Rotaru)
  • “For those at sea” (music by A. Kutikov and A. Makarevich, verses by A. Makarevich ^[2] ; Spanish version S. Rotaru, M. Boyarsky - backing vocals).

According to the official version, in 1980, director Alexander Stefanovich turned to one of the leading Soviet pop singers Sofia Rotaru with a proposal to star in a new musical film according to a script written specifically for Rotaru, which was supposed to play itself on the screen. At the same time, as Andrei Makarevich told in his interview, Alla Pugacheva was originally supposed to play the main role in the film ^[3] . Although the director himself in an interview with Dmitry Gordon said that at first it was about the film “Recital,” but when it was closed, I had to look for a new actress for the main role ^[4] .

The plot of the film is partially based on real events - in 1981 the singer was really sick and was in a creative crisis. The calculation was correct: rumors about the singer’s illness spread among fans, and this added popularity to the film being shot ^[5] .

Rotaru’s voice with a noticeable Moldavian accent did not coincide with the director’s intention and the screen image, and he had to be re-voiced (the voice acting was made by actress Larisa Danilina, also starring in the film). Sofia Rotaru got a new image in the film, and during the work on the film, the director used several interesting shooting techniques, including clip editing with one of the first video clips in the history of the USSR ^{[6] [5]} .

The first, probably the first in the Soviet Union, was filmed a video clip , here's an interesting thing. We dressed our artists in costumes that were sewn from top to bottom, gold, silver. A trampoline was made below, and they jumped, and below we shot how they sing in the air, how they fly. It was a stunning scene for the audience - no one understood how we did it ^[5] .

They also invited the rock band Time Machine, which had then a semi-forbidden status, into the picture. There were no discs of the group; they were forbidden to appear on television (with rare exceptions) and in the central concert venues of the capital. Meanwhile, the Time Machine magneto-albums were distributed in large numbers among fans. The appearance of the group members on the movie screen for most fans was generally the first chance to see their idols ^[7] .

The presence of the recently banned singer Andrei Makarevich in the microphone’s frame aroused indignation among the officials and they even suggested that the director somehow change the face of Makarevich in these frames to some other artist, but Stefanovich objected, explaining that the technical possibilities for such a there is no operation, and the film was released without re-editing. In an interview, Andrei Makarevich shared his impressions of the filming of this film:

At that moment I was terribly enraged that ... Well, firstly, I had to change a few words in the songs, and secondly, I did not like how Misha Boyarsky performed them. Incidentally, he himself did not want to do this. “Why,” he said, “to grumble and wheeze?” Makar sings his things better ”, but that was the condition of the Mosfilm artistic council. All the time we were in a situation where, so to speak, we were not particularly asked, and still I think that there were much more advantages, because we were finally seen. ^[8]

The film premiered in the spring of 1982 at the Zvezdny movie theater (Moscow) ^[9] .

The film was shot in 1981 in Moscow and the Crimea . In Moscow, this is the Berezhkovskaya embankment of the Moscow River , the youth theater studio on Krasnaya Presnya , and the Olimpiysky sports complex . In Crimea - the Livadia park and the surroundings of Yalta (where S. Rotaru’s house is located) ^[10] .

Also, some episodes of the film were filmed in the GDR , where Sofia Rotaru at that time recorded her numerous albums.

During the filming of the film, Sofia Rotaru was threatened with taking her son hostage, who was hidden in one of the Crimean villas ^[11] .

During the filming between the musicians of "Time Machine" there was a conflict, the prerequisites for which arose long ago. Disagreements of a financial nature between the members of the group became a formal reason. As a result, Peter Podgorodetsky and Hovhannes Melik-Pashayev left the group. They left the lineup after the filming of the film and the 1982 tour.

In the work of Sofia Rotaru, who emerged from the crisis after filming, a new period came when the songs of Andrei Makarevich fell into her repertoire. In the New Year's “Blue Light” of 1981-1982, she sang the song “For Those in the Sea” ^{[12] [2]} .

In the official Soviet press, the film received mostly negative reviews.

According to the creators of the picture, they fell under the campaign specially organized against the film in the Soviet newspapers, since the appearance on the screens of the leaders of the country's underground music was not welcomed by the official authorities. Be that as it may, critics noted the director’s weak work, a script full of cliches, and a slurred acting. "The creators of the film ... frightened of difficulties ... involuntarily lost their soul" ^[13] ; “Primitive script and direction” ^[14]

In the magazine " Crocodile " the following epigram was published (author - Vladimir Volin ):

"With the revue in the movie stubbornly no luck!
(There are rarely exceptions).
And again the woman who sings
And the audience who yawns ... ^[15]

Of the positive aspects can be noted dynamism, professional installation of the picture.

Of the entire ensemble of actors, only Rolan Bykov’s game stood out, which was able to create an unusual for the Soviet screen image of the early 1980s as a concert administrator, a cold-blooded art dealer who considers artists on stage only as a tool for making money ^[16] .

Among the fans, the picture was perceived contradictory. Rotaru fans enthusiastically embraced the creative union of Sofia and the rock band Time Machine. Fans of rock music of the USSR negatively reacted to the fact that their favorite band was pushed into the background and acted as accompanists of a pop singer ^{[17] [18]} .

Andrei Makarevich, Alexander Kutikov and other musicians did not get distinct roles, in the film they have only a few memorable remarks. According to the scenario, the leader of the group is not the hero of Andrei Makarevich, but Vadim performed by Mikhail Boyarsky ^[19] .

The appearance on the movie screen of the very weak film “Soul”, in which the musicians of “Mashiny Vremeni” accompanied singer Sofia Rotaru, contributed to the fact that from the nonconformists Makarevich and his companions eventually turned into a traditional pop group , whose concerts now went to decent instead of radical youth young ladies in ruffles and their mothers and fathers. Thus ended the era of "Time Machine" ^[20] .

Peter Podgorodetskiy also responded ^[9] about the poor quality of the picture:

I think it’s not worth talking about the artistic merits of the film “Soul” due to the lack of such. However, the participation of “Machines” made the film the leader of the rental. But even ourselves were warped by the "negligence" peculiar to the director Stefanovich. In rare cases, when the band members were allowed to say some kind of remark in the frame, it was voiced by other actors.