Actors "Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano." Reviews and reviews on the film

The film “The Unfinished Piece for the Mechanical Piano” was released in 1977. It was shown at various film festivals and won five awards. Not only directing was noted, but also some actors. “Unfinished play for a mechanical piano”: what is this movie about and who played the main roles in it?

The creators of the picture

The film was directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, winner of the Oscar for the film Burnt by the Sun, which was shot a little later. Mikhalkov was also nominated for an Oscar for his film work entitled Urga - Territory of Love and The Twelve.

Mikhalkov prefers to write scripts for his films on his own. So this time, with the support of Alexander Adabashyan (a famous Soviet actor and director), Nikita Sergeyevich creatively reworked Anton Chekhov’s short stories “In the Estate”, “Fatherless Fatherhood” and many others, creating a single plot based on them.

The famous Soviet actors were invited to the main roles: “The Unfinished Piece for the Mechanical Piano” was included in the filmography of Alexander Kalyagin, Elena Solovey, Yuri Bogatyrev, Oleg Tabakov and others.

Behind the camera was Pavel Lebeshev, who also worked on the paintings “They are ringing, open the door”, “Slave of Love” and “Belorussky Train Station”.

Short story

In the film "An Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano", the actors play characters who, one wonderful summer evening, gathered in the country house at a certain generals Anna Petrovna Voynitseva. It would seem that people should get together not familiar with each other, but it soon becomes clear that many of them had relationships in the past.

In particular, a piquant situation unfolds on the screens when a rural teacher Platnov suddenly recognizes his first stepson's wife in his wife’s general. Seeing Sofya, Michel Platonov loses his head and tries to talk to her all evening. And he manages to do it so well that Sophia offers him to abandon his faithful and escape together.

Mikhail Vasilievich Platonov suddenly realizes that he does not have enough agility for such adventures. In desperation, he rushes off a cliff into the seething, as it seemed to him, water. Yes, it turns out that he’s knee-deep, and suicide failed. And this story ends.

The actors involved in the film. “An Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano”: Platonov’s character and his performer Kalyagin

Chekhov’s characters are not easy to play. Therefore, Mikhalkov invited trusted actors.

“An unfinished play for a mechanical piano” is not the first collaboration between Alexander Kalyagin and Nikita Mikhalkov. Nikita Sergeevich has already shot Kalyagin in his directorial debut, “Amongst strangers, a stranger among his own.” A year after filming in this picture, Alexander Alexandrovich became famous throughout the Union for the role of Babs Baberley in the film Hello, I Am Your Aunt. Then the artist received a prominent role in Mikhalkov’s next film “Slave of Love” and, finally, the main role in “Unfinished play ...”

The hero of Alexander Kalyagin in his youth was distinguished by quickness, quick wit. He dreamed of a great future. He was passionately in love with Sophia. But all this remained in the past: now he is just a hopeless rural teacher. The meeting with Sophia awakens in him former courage and nostalgia for the old days. And yet it turns out that the teacher Michel Platonov has long lost his inclination for adventures: even in the company of his beloved Sophia, he is not ready to risk and leave his old life for an uncertain future.

An Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano: actors and roles. Elena Solovey as Sophia Voynitseva

Elena Solovey, like Alexander Kalyagin, is one of Mikhalkov's most beloved performers. In the 76th, the artist agreed to take part in his project “Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano”.

Actors Alexander Kalyagin and his partner on the set, Elena Solovey, in the film "Unfinished Play ..." play already elderly people who previously loved each other. But then their paths diverged: Michelle married Sasha, and Sophia became the bride of Sergei Voynitsev - stepson of General Anna Petrovna. When a woman gives her consent to visit Voynitseva’s dacha, she does not even suspect what kind of meeting awaits her there and how it will all end.

Elena Solovey also starred in such films as “Children of Vanyushin”, “Mad Money” and “Blonde Around the Corner”. Since 1991, the actress has been in exile in the United States.

Other role performers

The film "An Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano" gathered many talented actors in the frame.

For example, Yuri Bogatyrev got the image of Serge Voynitsev - Sofia’s husband. The actor is also known for his roles in the films “Calm Day at the End of the War”, “Don Cesar de Bazan” and “His Among Strangers ...”.

Nikita Mikhalkov in the film chose the role of Dr. Nikolai Triletsky. Antonina Shuranova, known for the films “War and Peace” and “Star of Captivating Happiness”, played the owner of the dacha - General Anna Petrovna.

Eugenia Glushenko (“The Life of Klim Samgin”) got the role of Sasha - the legitimate wife of Michel Platonov. And the famous Oleg Tabakov played the neighbor creditor Shcherbuk. Also in the frame appeared Nikolai Pastukhov (“The Taming of the Shrew”), Pavel Kadochnikov (“Blonde around the corner”), Anatoly Romashin (“Anna Pavlova”) and Natalya Nazarova (“Sibiriada”).

Reviews and reviews

Five awards at film festivals in Chicago, Cartagena, San Sebastian, Belgrade and Rome received the painting "Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano." Criticism about her, of course, is positive. In the world, it has long been not customary to speak ill of Chekhov’s creations, and it was on the basis of his stories that a script for the film was created.

On the IMDb website, the picture has a rating of eight out of a possible ten, which is a fairly high indicator. Ordinary viewers also respond to Mikhalkov’s work mostly positively: the wonderful cast is pleasing to the eye, and the problems of pre-revolutionary Russia are relevant, as it turned out, in the modern world. The meaninglessness and worthlessness of one’s own life can one day be realized by any person. And what to do next with this “knowledge” - everyone decides for himself: to change his fate or to continue to burn the priceless time further. Unfortunately, the hero Kalyagin chooses the latter.