Forgotten Tune for the Flute (1987) User Reviews

Maybe, Ryazanov's best

[shusei · 9/10 · 1 May 2007]

I've seen several of his films, from "Beware,the car" to recent "Silent abyss",but this is the only one film which made me not only laugh but also cry. This is a timeless story of love, maybe banal, but extremely sincerely told and performed.It will be very difficult to find such acting now in Hollywood films and in Europien "arthouse"films,as that of Leonid Filatov and Tatyana Dogileva. They seems to be utterly ordinary people whom we can see in any big city, but being so, they display us full range of emotions and feelings,and, to the end, even dignity of human being. The historical and social background is also interesting,as it is the time of hope and disappointment,the beginning of perestroika. But this film can be seen with laughter and tears without such context. This film evidenced that,melodrama,romantic comedy can be great work of art even today.

Love, cowardice, and changes

[mtuitsch · 9/10 · 24 December 2011]

"A Forgotten Tune for the Flute" is a good movie, in the sense of generating positive thinking among its viewers. However, just like many "good" movies, it speculates upon the dark side of nature, for everything is recognized in comparison. Certainly, the movie is about love - love which suddenly appeared between two people belonging to different social and intellectual classes - Leonid, a married bureaucrat from "the Major department of Free Time" (a satirical allusion to the Ministry of Culture), and Ludmila, a lonely young nurse, working in the same building. As long as their relations develop, Ludmila realizes that her lover is an apprehensive and hesitating liar, who can't choose her over his wife (whose father helped him to promote) and who is afraid of social and bureaucratic resentment. However, the feeling seems to be strong and she keeps on giving him a chance. However, this movie is about changes - those political changes of the Perestroika period that have accelerated dissatisfaction with the government and Soviet regime and have touched such taboo-then themes like bureaucracy, mean and poor mode of life of the Soviet citizens, hypocrisy and sanctimony. The movie is about positive thinking and the freedom of self-expression, once lost by the Soviet regime. Leonid, a former flute-player, periodically plays a flute tune, the origins of which are forgotten, just like all those things, once considered as sincere and virtuous, and then forbidden by fanatic regime. This allusion reveals his dependence on bureaucracy, and his inability to value and support pure art that doesn't meet the Soviet ideology standards. Eldar Ryazanov again managed to create a witty, lyrical, yet thought-provoking and controversial cinematographic masterpiece, which perfectly fits its time and contemporary ideas. Though it has certainly fallen out of time-boundedness and explores some of the eternal issues of the human nature. Undoubtly, one can't help but also admire a professionally selected cast, whose acting intensifies the pleasure of watching "A Forgotten Tune..." and makes one say "I do trust" - just like Stanislavski used to note.

Modern romantic comedy and satire

[samyanari · 9/10 · 27 March 2002]

This is an enjoyable/romantic comedy as well as a caustic satire on the bureaucracy of the post-Glasnost era. Leonid, a high-ranking bureaucrat, faces a mid-life crisis when he becomes enthralled with Lida, a charming/spirited nurse. He makes awkward advances. She learns that his promising career as a concert flautist ended when his politically-powerful father-in-law hoisted him on the ladder of bureaucracy. He is flustered when Yelena, his architect wife, finds out his affair.

Should not be forgotten

[hte-trasme · 8/10 · 25 May 2014]

This film uses the form of a chance-driven romance -- of which the filmmaker had already proved himself a master -- to tell a story that is deliberately and contrarily to expectations, not a happy one. And it mixes this with sharp, heavy satire in ways that are both daring and interesting.

The film itself draws attention to the fact that its making is historically placed right at perestroika, and some of what we see is as much speculation about what that will mean for art and society as it is pure satire. I could not be lost on anyone at the time that they were seeing a film with nudity, formal experimentation, and politically critical content -- in which the characters wonder what will happen if such a thing is allowed.

We start with a broadly satirical song about society, and are quickly introduced to a main character who works for a fictional "Bureau of Free Time" -- a deep jab in itself. The protagonist, Filimonov, is a corrupt man working for a corrupt department; he's looking for advancement and we watch him unequivocally cheat on his wife, then deal unfairly both her and his mistress -- and repeat. The most regular stylistic device shows him seeming to take a brave stand in his life -- only to have it revealed as a daydream.

Interesting, the only things on the side of redemption for this sad but unsavory character are art -- a former flautist, he is the only one in his department willing to stick his neck out for original art. And notably, the other woman he falls for is one he first saw in a non- traditional production of Gogol's "Inspector General."

This artistic/satirical/political content is mixed with a lot of character-driver personal interaction as well, and though I think we do not (and perhaps are not really meant to) like the characters in question, they are well-written and acted enough that they are always engaging and interesting.

The experimentation and the blending of what are really two different types of content make for a heady mix that is not always easily digested, but it is fascinating admirable, and well-worth it. Having seen several of Ryazanov's films now, it feels almost as if he decided to mix the social observation of "Garage" with something like the framework of an "Office Romance" or "Irony of Fate."

Excellent film, a bit of everything in it!!!

[SqueakyLovesGeorgeSpahn · 9/10 · 27 July 2021]

I found it highly enjoyable, it´s a little gem, shows the changing Gorbachev years and the inner struggle to do the right thing, even when involving harming your loved ones.

entertaining portrait of a country in transition

[mjneu59 · 7/10 · 18 November 2010]

Russian filmmakers aren't always noted for their sparkling sense of humor, but this enjoyable Soviet satire takes advantage of permissive times by poking fun at the stubborn habits of the old regime, represented here by a meek, conservative bureaucrat coping unsuccessfully with Perestroika. When the effort of faking enthusiasm for what he considers politically suspicious, third-rate artistic programs sends him to the hospital with a mild heart attack, he falls in love with his young nurse and pays for his infidelity by losing his privileged position on the newly formed Leisure Time Directorate. The opening credits call it 'a film in two parts', which in one sense is true: what first appears to be a fitfully amusing but primitive attempt to plagiarize Hollywood romantic comedy role models emerges finally as a touching (and at times surprisingly candid) reflection of the schizophrenia at large in the Soviet Union in its latter days.

What a mess is the life of a man who cannot control his desires and feelings, and is a coward in the important moments..

[stefano-detoni · 8/10 · 27 December 2020]

It is funny that my favourite Ryazanov's film is one of the lest popular in Russia. Unlike other films of the director, it runs seldom in television, and never in prime time. But I like it very much, because it is very well done, and it is ....true. The characters are depicted in a very realistic and human way. Their mistakes are pointed at without pity, sincerely, especially the mistakes and the cowardice of the man. Moreover, we can see a constant comparison between what he thinks and should be, and what he is and does in reality. At this purpose the director shows us flashes of his imagination, when he imagines what he would like to do in that moment, which sometimes would be really right. He would like, he should, he wants, but he is weak and unable to do it. Then, Ryazanov shows us what he really does, as a coward, or as a hypocrite. The man, following his passion, very soon finds himself with two women, a situation with no way out. At that stage, there can only be much sorrow for everybody. The two women are all in all the victims of his incapacity to live, to choose, to be faithful, sincere, and coherent. His wife is a good woman who loves him, and does not deserve in any way to be abandoned. His sweetheart has the only guilt of giving in to the insistence of a man who is not able to dominate his passions. I find very good the visions of the afterlife he has in his coma. The Soviet materialism has already melted away in the years of perestroika. Of course, the movie is well acted and directed, and has a good pace. There is also room for some humour, but very subtle, the way I like it. If you like movies about feelings, right and wrong, and personal responsibility, and about how much sorrow can cause someone who lets himself be led by the passion of a moment, well, you will certainly like it. Maybe it is not loved by the big audience because it is too frank and true, and many people do not like to see the bad side of themselves in a movie.