Autumn Marathon (1979)
Andrey Pavlovich Buzykin, who makes a living by teaching at an institute and translating English literature, is cheating on his wife. Buzykin's main problem is that he's a kind man with a weak character. The lies he is telling his wife all the time are inconvincing, but he never has the courage to tell her the truth. His lover, Alla, is aware of his family life, but gets offended when, for example, he cannot meet her so that he doesn't come home late, or when he doesn't want to go home in a new jacket she gives him to avoid having to explain to his wife. Alla and Nina, Andrei's wife, both leave him, forgive him, and return to him at the same time, and Andrei continues with this kind of life, full of suffering and deceit. Finally, both women are so fed up with his lies that they don't believe him even when he is telling the truth...
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This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Blistering performances.
While I did enjoy watching this film, I will preface that it was entertaining to watch but the film doesn't deliver as well in the comedy area despite being labeled as a dramatic comedy. There were really one one or two scenes in the movie that particularly made me laugh or elicited a chuckle, while most of the other scenes fell short of that mark. That does not mean the film was bad by any means, rather in my opinion it managed to keep my attention and Andrey's character or rather lack of character was something that hit close to home, in a good way though. The supporting characters complemented the plot very well and the situations that Andrey got himself into made me further interested in what was to come next. I would definitely recommend this film even to those who have no idea about Russian film.
Centered on a well-meaning Professor, Autumn Marathon shows the chaos that ensues when one cannot learn to say no to himself, and therefore to others around him. Professor Andrey Pavlovich Buzykin is manipulated by everyone around him, especially the women in his life. His mistress Alla is constantly pestering him about having children with her and leaving his wife, Nina. Nina is clearly well-aware that her husband is lying to her and most likely cheating, so she manipulates Andrey into feeling sorry for her by moping around the house and saying that no one needs her. His fellow writer Varvara uses him and adds to his web of lies as he helps her translate, which will cause her to take his place with the publishers. Basically, the whole film is sometimes painful to watch because Andrey's lies to his wife and mistress become more complicated with each scene. At the end, he seems to be peaceful when both women finally leave him, but at practically the same moment, his mistress calls and his wife comes back home. In the final scene of this dizzying chaos, Andrey hasn't learned his lesson and lies to his mistress that his wife has left and lies to his wife that he left his mistress. In my Russian Film class, we discussed how Andrey really isn't that bad of a guy and just wants to please everyone, but as a grown man, he should know better. Throughout the film, it is clear that his lies hurt everyone around him and make his current life almost impossible to keep up with. I wish the film would have ended with him starting anew, but alas, this ending is much more in line with the reality that the older we get, the less likely we are to change.
Not long ago I enjoyed Afonya, a previous film by director Georgiy Daneliya, and I couldn't help but notice that Autumn Marathon works by performing a similar trick in a very different way: it takes for its main character a man who should be considered quite bad by all measures of reason, but makes us like him, and sympathize with him for the situations he's clearly responsible for getting himself into. But here it's not from indifferent charm that we feel for him, but as a embodiment of a very human quality of wanting to satisfy those who ask things of us. He's having an affair, and can make neither his wife nor his lover happy because he wants to please them both -- but that's only a part of a nonstop torment he causes himself including taking on translation work he doesn't have time for to help his boss, then not finishing it because he was helping a colleague, who end up taking his commissions. It's a fine tragic flaw in that it's easy for anyone to find some sympathy even if they are not personally a two-timer. The titles call it a "sad comedy," and that's an appropriate phrase -- it borrows the structure and design of a comedy without having to worry about being funny every moment. So it satisfies in many of the same ways and, with a cast of good supporting characters, often is quite funny.The well-orchestrated ending is great, and almost existential -- and appropriately simultaneously the funniest and saddest part.
This is a great comedy about what it means to have a weak character.Outstanding is the performance of Yevgenij Leonov. Everybody should watch this film because there is a great lesson to learn about life.