The legendary comedy “Love and Pigeons” was born thanks to a successful creative tandem and a careful, loving attitude of the authors to the material. Not the least role in the success of the films was played by the magnificent landscapes against which the films were made.
How it all started
In 1981, the actor and playwright Vladimir Gurkin created the play, which became a favorite of the Soviet scene. At that time, perhaps, there was no theater that did not set or did not dream of staging this plain, warm, funny and lyrical story about Vasya Kuzyakin, his family and resort passion. In 1984, the well-known film director Vladimir Menshov, who already became famous throughout the world with the tape “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”, took Oscar for the best film in a foreign language. The new picture was no worse than the previous one, it was awarded the Golden Rook International Prize at the Comedy Film Festival and also gained popular love. Menshov once admitted that he considers his life in the cinema to have taken place only because he created this film.
Homeland of Vasya Kuzyakin
Vladimir Gurkin wrote his sparkling play, based on a real world story that happened in his hometown of Cheremkhovo, Irkutsk Region. Even the author used real names. According to the work, the action takes place also in the Irkutsk region, only not in Cheremkhovo, or in Talsk, or in Belsk. Countrymen of the playwright are convinced that the shooting of the film could well have been carried out here, but not at all where they actually shot Love and Pigeons. In Cheremkhovo, nevertheless, grateful compatriots erected a monument to the unforgettable Kuzyakin, thereby perpetuating the dramatic work.
Geography of filming
So still, where did the employees of Mosfilm shoot the film “Love and Pigeons”? The city of Medvezhyegorsk in the Republic of Karelia was chosen for filming. Of course, at first they searched for nature in Siberia, traveled around the Irkutsk region, visited the shore of Lake Baikal. But Menshov did not like the local landscapes. According to Gurkin, who accompanied the director, the latter was struck by local disorder. And in the picturesque villages located in the depths of the taiga, there would not be enough energy power that would withstand the work of film equipment. In addition, the actors who had to be in Moscow during the filming period, since they were busy in the performances, were far away to get to.
Menshov chose Karelia, a favorite place of Russian filmmakers, if it was necessary to show the harsh and beautiful nature, the vastness of the Russian taiga. In the same place, in Medvezhyegorsk, where the film “Love and Pigeons” was shot, in 1977 they made the film “The Fourth Height” about the legendary Gula Koroleva, and in 2006 the film crew of the film “Piranha Hunting” arrived here. In one of the interviews, the director admitted that the Mosfilmites went to this Karelian town, because in his name it sounded “mountainous” - I wanted to make a movie against the backdrop of hills and hillocks. We drove through the streets and found!
House on the outskirts
The street led the seekers to the outskirts of the city to the Kumsa River, near which they saw the very house number 12 on Lower Street. The owners - Elizaveta Petrovna and Neil Konstantinovich Santalaynen - welcomed the capital's guests cordially, agreed to give up their penates for filming for three months. Only a courtyard paved with wooden boards is not a Karelian, but a Siberian tradition. So I had to agree with the owners that in the courtyard of the house where the film “Love and Pigeons” was shot, the owners were allowed to build wooden flooring.
Twenty years later, Vladimir Menshov and actor Alexander Mikhailov, who played Vasya, visited these places. Much has changed to this day - after the fire, the house underwent reconstruction, the dovecote, built specifically for the film, fell, which had to be demolished.
Hot passions in cooled water
But this is not the whole truth about where the film “Love and Pigeons” was shot. When the turn came to make scenes of the resort affair of the protagonist, it was already November in the courtyard. The filmmakers went to Batumi, where the artists had to swim in the icy water - its temperature did not exceed fourteen degrees. The skill of the actors is so great that the viewer did not doubt at all that the heroes heartily enjoy a sultry beach vacation and a velvet southern night.