The Irony of Fate (1975)

It's not unusual to find the same street name in different towns and therefore the same house number. But when the house is in a building that looks the same in both towns, and is situated on the same floor, with the same door lock, and the same floor layout... Many of the buildings built during the height of the Soviet Union look the same from street to street, city to city. When Zhenya celebrates New Year with his friends, and in a drunken mix-up is put on a plane for Leningrad, takes a taxi to the correct street, finds his way to the correct floor, enters the correctly numbered flat, and collapses on the sofa, he is unaware that he is in a flat belonging to a stranger. And worse, his fiance is waiting for him back in Moscow. The owner of the flat is a single woman, who is horrified to find the intruder and when her fiance later turns up there are all the ingredients for one of the best loved Russian romantic comedies.

Rather like 'It's a Wonderful Life', which is shown every Christmas on western tv, 'Ironiya Sudbi' is a fixture on the Russian new year tv schedules and will always attract a huge cross generational audience. And Russians abroad will put it on the video or dvd player. This film is a part of Russian culture and essential viewing.