It’s New Year’s, and just as in the United States people are watching Love Actually It’s A Wonderful Life on repeat, here in Kyrgyzstan as across the former Soviet Union, people are watching a charming film from 1976 called “Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!” which literally translates to “The Irony Of Fate, Or Enjoy Your Bath!”

The film, which is actually a two-part TV mini-series, each part 90 minutes long, was originally broadcast by Soviet Central Television on New Year’s Day, 1976, 41 years ago.  It was estimated that the original television audience numbered over 100 million, which is more viewers than the finale of M*A*S*H, in a country with a smaller population.  It was so popular that it was demanded that it be rebroadcast, and eventually was also released in theaters.  Ever since, it has become a beloved staple of Russian and Post-Soviet pop culture, and families across Kyrgyzstan sit around the television on New Year’s Eve each year to watch the annual broadcast of the film.

The film combines a bittersweet love story with raucous comedic situations, and the film’s plot comes from one giant joke about Soviet architecture.  See, in the 1950’s, the Soviet Union was facing a shortage of housing of any kind, about the same time that Soviet architects developed large-scale concrete manufacturing and prefabricated concrete architectural designs.  I wonder what happened…

In 1961, the first 5-story prefab concrete apartment buildings went up in Moscow.  They were intended to be quick-builds that would temporarily meet housing needs while other, better buildings could be built, but they still make up the housing stock of virtually all apartments in Kyrgyzstan (and Russia even), with a few exceptions.  Later on, they built 9- and 12-story versions of these buildings, which have come to be known (almost derisively) as “Khrushchyovka” buildings, after Nikita Khrushchev.

I’m actually very fond of Khrushchyovka apartments, and here’s why: the apartments are the same literally no matter where they are.  You can find an ad for a “2-room apartment,” and you know exactly what it will look like on the inside for the most part, right down to which light switch turns on the lights in the bathroom and kitchen (it’s always on the hallway wall opposite the bathroom).  It means that you have a lot better idea of what you’re getting, and it also gives you a good idea of exactly how much of a premium an identical apartment in a better location will cost.

Now, the movie plays this up even further; in the film, the protagonist, Zhenya, is planning to spend New Year’s Eve with his fiancé at his apartment in Moscow.  As is tradition, he goes to a banya with his 3 closest friends, who insist on plying him with vodka to celebrate.

One of them, Pavel is supposed to go to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) to spend the evening with his wife, but in their drunken stupor, they accidentally load Zhenya, none the wiser, onto the plane, completely wasted.

Zhenya, upon arrival in Leningrad and still completely blackout drunk, decides that it’s time to go home, so he goes to the street and hails a taxi, and gives him his address, 3rd Builder’s Street Building 25 Apartment 12.  Now, just as there’s a Lenin St. in every city in the USSR, there’s also an October Revolution Street, and also a 3rd Builder’s Street in every city.  As it so happens, there’s also a Building 25.  The taxi takes him there, and it’s revealed to be an identical building to his building in Moscow.  He goes in the front door, and takes the elevator up to his floor, everything still identical (remember, he’s in St. Petersburg, not in Moscow!). And, he gets to the door of Apartment 12, and he drunkenly removes his key and – you guessed it, the key is the same too, and he unlocks the door, walks in, looks around a bit confusedly before passing out on one of the beds.

By the way – this may sound completely insane and ridiculous, but it’s actually completely plausible; one time, my friend and I were renting an apartment in Bishkek. We went to the same apartment one floor below the one we had rented by accident (many apartments don’t have a number label), and the key worked in the door so we just assumed we’d gotten it right.  When we got back a few hours later, there were some VERY confused people waiting for us with our bags.  Another time, we needed a copy of the key for my gate, so we went to a key maker, who looked closely at the key, then opened a cabinet with about 50 different keys.  He looked around, pulled one down, checked that it matched, and sold it to us.  Apparently, there are very few distinct key designs here.

Anyway, after a little bit, the Leningrad apartment’s resident, Nadia, returns home and is shocked to find Zhenya sleeping in her bed.

Then, her fiancé arrives, and hilarity ensues, of course with a happy ending.

The film includes some serious moments questioning romance and love, and the entire film has a sort of hilarious commentary on the bleakness of Soviet apartment buildings, but I found it overall to be very charming and uplifting, with a surprising number of laugh-out-loud moments.  It’s no wonder that this film, which you’ve almost certainly never heard of, is held in such high esteem by over 300 million people.

MosFilm actually has uploaded the film to YouTube with English Subtitles, and you can watch it right here:

Part 1:

Part 2:

If you have the chance, it’s a wonderful way to welcome in 2017!

Thanks for reading, and I wish you all the happiest and most successful 2017!