Spring / Vesna (1947)

A drab woman scientist, working on machine to harness solar energy, and a pert concert singer look-alike being courted to play her in a movie swap identities and find personal growth, professional success, love, and happiness.



Director: Grigori Aleksandrov
Cast: Lyubov Orlova, Nikolai Cherkasov, Nikolai Konovalov, Faina Ranevskaya, Rostislav Plyatt, Boris Petker, Mikhail Sidorkin, Rina Zelyonaya, Tatyana Guretskaya, Vasili Zajchikov, Arkadi Tsinman, Valentina Telegina, Mikhail Troyanovsky, Georgi Yumatov, Garen Zhukovskaya, L. Svoboda, S. Balashov, B. Zhuravlyov, V. Golubin, N. Kazantseva, V. Krasovitskaya, L. Legostayeva, N. Mikhaylova, Aleksei Konsovsky

A director goes to the Sun Institute to meet the scientist about whom he has to make a feature film. After many screen tests, he finally finds an actress who looks so much like the scientist that they start to swap places. Lyubov Orlova plays both parts, playing the scientist who impersonates the actress who is playing the scientist. This film, which is ultimately a game of mirrors and a series of doppelgangers and puns, revels in its deftly-created parallels. The director in the film, who is virtually a double for Aleksandrov (who met Orlova under similar circumstances) falls in love with the scientist, while the actress falls in love with the journalist. Once these characters have been paired off, the leads sing a song that reveals to the audience that they have just seen a film that tells the story of the film they have just seen.

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