Office Romance
Office Romance
| 26 October 1977 (USA)
Office Romance Trailers

Anatoly Novoseltsev is a mousy single father and office stumblebum working at a statistics bureau in Moscow. In the hopes of being promoted, he is coaxed into charming his disagreeable and seemingly unfeeling boss, Ludmila Kalugina, or "Meany" as she's otherwise known by her subordinates. Helped by his colleagues Olya and Yura, Anatoly attempts to ease the yoke of Ms. Kalugina, and what follows in the wake of his graceless manoeuvres is completely unforeseen, as he awakens a side to her not yet known, even to herself..

Reviews
SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie
Pluskylang Great Film overall
Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
adriennenoracarter Eldar Ryaznov's Office Romance (1977) tells the story of workers in a statistical bureau in the era of stagnation. Director Liudmilla Prokofievna Kalugina is a strict woman who is seen as the office hag by the rest of the workers. When Yuri Grigoriovich Samokhvalov is named assistant director, he tries to appoint worker and old friend Anatoly Yefremovich Novoseltsev to a higher position in order to help him provide more for his two young sons. However, Liudmilla doesn't approve of this promotion . . . therefore; Yuri suggests that Tolya lightly flirt with Liudmilla in order to win her favor for the promotion. The two, however, soon begin to have actual feelings for each other which begins to lead the story in entirely new directions. The film shows a true view of how many things were in the era of stagnation: for example, transportation. Both Olga Ryzhova and Tolya take public transportation everyday—the tram and the trolleybus. The scenes from the film show how crowded the cars of these forms of transportation become. Not shown in the movie, however, are the usually long lines in order to get onto these cars Another thing that could be noted in this film is the way the office women and eventually even Liudmilla dress. Although it is still the communist Soviet state, in the Brezhnev era there is a sort of frivolity in things such as this. One of the main reasons is because foreign clothing and other foreign goods are increasingly becoming easier and easier to obtain through the Soviet black market. This classic Taming of the Shrew like tale has the perfect blend of humor and truth—it's easy to see why it is still a favorite in many of the former Soviet countries.
deeanaid It's really a great movie especially if you love old romantic movies!! Romantic and funny and illustrates perfectly the work environment and organization from '77. Excellent actor performances and great story line. It made me think at first at the "The taming of the shrew" story. A romance that brings a smile on your face and you can watch on a rainy day. Although I'm not a fan of Russian movies it made me search for other Russian movies and this one remains a "must see". I really liked the male character and his clumsiness and also the shyness of the female main character and to observe people way of thinking and ethics of that period . I'd watched it again in a few years!
hte-trasme "Roman" is Russian for "romance," but also for "novel," and this film is in many ways like a novel in its range and subtlety, and the complexity of its characters. It's a quite excellent, and really genuine piece of film. It's in two parts and it's long, but never drags and so much of the subtle art that Eldar Ryazanov brings to his direction is in the fact that everything is perfectly timed. The length gives the narrative time to breathe, the characters time to play off each other in genuine good scenes, and subplots time to play out. As with a good novel, there is more than one tone. "Tragicomedy" is a word that gets applied, and I think it's the right one. It's hilariously funny quite often, but also is sometimes so sad that it's hard to watch -- without the shift in tone ever being jarring. It's great how well things can turn out when everything else is left simple so that the characters and what they decide to do can be humanly complicated. Everything is accomplished with an understanding script, and well-chosen cast of true actors, and a director who applies real talent to the material. The office setting never becomes stifling, and the expansive length and detailed script let us get just enough of a sense of this office at a real place with a host of believable people working in it, without detracting from the main elements of the story. We know what will happen in the end -- in the first few minutes we know to follow how Novoseltsev will break through Kalugina's facade and his own shyness to win her over. But we're still kept on the edge of our seats to find out just how. "Office Romance" is extremely sweet in a way that is never off-putting -- probably at least in part because the characters can be so brutal with each other. It's hard to imagine the viewer who wouldn't be won over.
Mikie-4 Oh, good old 70s... Oh, incredible Alysa Freindlich :))). An incredibly kind, cute and lyrical comedy, one of the most popular Soviet movies of all times.