The Irony of Fate Collection
This trilogy of films explores themes of interpersonal relationships, friendship, love, and destiny within the context of Soviet culture. The first film revolves around a coincidence that leads to an unlikely romantic encounter. The sequel continues with the reunion of the main characters' grown-up children, exploring new relationships. The final film highlights unforeseen friendships, unanticipated reunions, and bittersweet partings, reflecting Soviet life. Throughout the trilogy, characters navigate evolving environments, showcasing resilience and adaptability. The films emphasize perseverance amid change, underscoring the importance of compassion, community, and familial bonds. Despite moments of loss and departure, the trilogy conveys optimism for the future, portraying the enduring power of love and friendship amidst societal shifts. Through captivating narratives and richly developed characters, these films offer a poignant and uplifting message.
The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975)
31 December, 1975
A group of old friends have a tradition of going to a public bathing house on New Year's Eve. Occasionally too much vodka and beer makes two of them unconscious. The problem is that one of them (Sasha) has to go to Leningrad but another one (Zhenya) goes. Zhenya wakes up at Leningrad airport. Believing that he is still in Moscow he takes a taxi and goes home. The street name, building and even apartment number, the way an apartment complex looks the same and the key coincide completely - just typical Soviet-type 'economy' architecture. Imagine the surprise of Nadya when she enters her apartment and finds a man without trousers in her bed. What's more - Nadya's fiancé also finds him there...
The Irony of Fate. The Sequel (2007)
21 December, 2007
Zhenya and Nadya go their separate ways. Nadya stuck with her bureaucrat boyfriend, married him and had a daughter, also called Nadya. Zhenya married and had a son, Konstantin. Both later divorced. More than 30 years later, Konstantin ends up drunk in the flat where the younger Nadya finds him. He is there as part of a convoluted ruse by his father's friends to get Zhenya back into the arms of the woman with whom he shared a magical night. The waylaid son is the bait to get Zhenya back to Leningrad, now called St. Petersburg. One romance is rekindled and another between the son and daughter is struck up.