The Theme

1979 film by Gleb Panfilov

This article is about the 1979 film. For the Tracey Lee song, see The Theme (It's Party Time). For other uses, see Theme.

The Theme

Directed by| Gleb Panfilov
Written by| Aleksandr Chervinsky
Gleb Panfilov
Starring| Mikhail Ulyanov
Inna Churikova
Stanislav Lyubshin
Yevgeni Vesnik
Distributed by| IFEX (US theatrical)

Release dates

| 1979 (USSR)
16 October 1987 (U.S. limited)

Running time

| 99 minutes
Country| Soviet Union
Language| Russian

The Theme (Russian: Тема, romanized: Tema) is a 1979 Soviet comedy film directed by Gleb Panfilov. It tells the story of an egotistical playwright who thinks of himself as an artist, but who allows the system to make him write conformist plays.

The film was heavily censored on its release in 1979. The full version was not released until 1986; this version was awarded the Golden Bear at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.[1]

## Plot[edit]

Popular playwright Kim Yesenin (Mikhail Ulyanov) with his mistress (Natalya Seleznyova) and friend (Yevgeni Vesnik) arrives in Suzdal on his Volga, in the search of historical themes for his new play, inwardly tormented by his own bias and experiencing a spiritual crisis. In Suzdal, he runs into a family of an old teacher Maria Alexandrovna (Yevgeniya Nechayeva) with venerable, traditional notions of morality and honor. Kim tries to woo the art historian and local museum guide Sasha (Inna Churikova), a pupil of Maria Alexandrovna, but she just plainly imparts to him about how mediocre and immoral his plays are.

Later Kim Yesenin is a secret witness to a farewell conversation of Sasha with her lover, nicknamed as "The Hirsute" (Stanislav Lyubshin). The Hirsute is a frustrated scientist and writer, planning to emigrate to the United States (in the scene of parting with The Hirsute, Sasha shouts: "What are you going to do in this America?!").

At night, Yesenin is trying to depart for Moscow, but changes his mind midway, turns around and crashes his car on the slippery road. In the final scene, severely wounded, he gets to a phone booth and calls Sasha. Without being able to communicate anything sensible to her Yesenin loses consciousness. Lieutenant Sinitsyn (Sergey Nikonenko) who happens to pass by, picks him up onto his motorcycle which has a sidecar attached - and on this frame the picture ends. The subsequent fate of Yesenin is unknown.

## Cast[edit]

* Mikhail Ulyanov as Kim Yesenin, writer
* Inna Churikova as Sasha Nikolaeva, museum guide
* Stanislav Lyubshin as Gravedigger, dissident, Sasha's friend
* Yevgeni Vesnik as Igor Paschin, writer
* Yevgeniya Nechayeva as Maria Alexandrovna
* Natalya Seleznyova as Svetlana, Yesenin's disciple
* Sergey Nikonenko as Sinitsyn, policeman

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Berlinale: 1987 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-02-27.

## External links[edit]

* The Theme at IMDb
* The Theme at AllMovie

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Films by Gleb Panfilov

* No Path Through Fire (1968)
* The Beginning (1970)
* I Want the Floor (1976)
* The Theme (1979)
* Valentina (1981)
* Vassa (1983)
* Mother (1989)
* The Romanovs: An Imperial Family (2000)
* The First Circle (2006)
* Ivan Denisovich (2021)

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Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear

1951–1975|

* Cinderella (1951)
* Four in a Jeep (1951)
* In Beaver Valley (1951)
* Justice Is Done (1951)
* Without Leaving an Address (1951)
* One Summer of Happiness (1952)
* The Wages of Fear (1953)
* Hobson's Choice (1954)
* Die Ratten (1955)
* Invitation to the Dance (1956)
* 12 Angry Men (1957)
* Wild Strawberries (1958)
* Les Cousins (1959)
* El Lazarillo de Tormes (1960)
* La Notte (1961)
* A Kind of Loving (1962)
* Bushido, Samurai Saga (1963)
* To Bed or Not to Bed (1963)
* Dry Summer (1964)
* Alphaville (1965)
* Cul-de-sac (1966)
* The Departure (1967)
* Who Saw Him Die? (1968)
* Early Works (1969)
* The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971)
* The Canterbury Tales (1972)
* Distant Thunder (1973)
* The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
* Adoption (1975)

1976–2000|

* Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)
* The Ascent (1977)
* Ascensor (1978)
* Las truchas (1978)
* What Max Said (1978)
* David (1979)
* Heartland (1980)
* Palermo or Wolfsburg (1980)
* Deprisa, Deprisa (1981)
* Veronika Voss (1982)
* Ascendancy (1983)
* La colmena (1983)
* Love Streams (1984)
* Wetherby (1985)
* The Woman and the Stranger (1985)
* Stammheim (1986)
* The Theme (1987)
* Red Sorghum (1988)
* Rain Man (1989)
* Larks on a String (1990)
* Music Box (1990)
* The House of Smiles (1991)
* Grand Canyon (1992)
* The Wedding Banquet (1993)
* Woman Sesame Oil Maker (1993)
* In the Name of the Father (1994)
* The Bait (1995)
* Sense and Sensibility (1996)
* The People vs. Larry Flynt (1997)
* Central Station (1998)
* The Thin Red Line (1999)
* Magnolia (2000)

2001–present|

* Intimacy (2001)
* Bloody Sunday (2002)
* Spirited Away (2002)
* In This World (2003)
* Head-On (2004)
* U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (2005)
* Grbavica (2006)
* Tuya's Marriage (2007)
* Elite Squad (2008)
* The Milk of Sorrow (2009)
* Honey (2010)
* A Separation (2011)
* Caesar Must Die (2012)
* Child's Pose (2013)
* Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014)
* Taxi (2015)
* Fire at Sea (2016)
* On Body and Soul (2017)
* Touch Me Not (2018)
* Synonyms (2019)
* There Is No Evil (2020)
* Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021)
* Alcarràs (2022)
* On the Adamant (2023)
* Dahomey (2024)

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