Alisa Freindlich interview with Malysheva. Here and now

Alisa Freindlich has been refusing interviews for a long time. Once, because of the article “Theatre of One Actress,” she broke up with her husband, director Igor Vladimirov, in whose theater, named after the Lensovet, she worked.

Not every man can calmly survive his wife’s success, Freundlich says bitterly. - I had a wonderful husband, comrade-in-arms and ally. But this publication turned him into my critic.

After parting, they worked together for another five years. Then Alisa moved to the BDT, to director Georgy Tovstonogov.

Freundlich was born in Leningrad. She survived the blockade when she was little. She was saved from starvation by the German punctuality of her grandmother, who gave the children a tiny ration of bread by the hour, and hid the rest under the key.

Alice's father - Bruno Freundlich - was one of the Germans whom Peter I brought to Russia to start glassblowing. His mother, Ksenia Fedorova, met him at a drama course. Dad named her Alice, mom liked the name Natalia better. But grandma intervened.

Why are you creating such a strange mess for a girl - Natalya Brunovna Freindlich - she shrugged her shoulders.

Before the war, Alice's parents separated. Bruno and the theater were evacuated to Tashkent, and from there returned with a new family - his wife and daughter Irina. Mother allowed Alice to meet with him, but Bruno's new wife was against it. They saw each other in secret. Irina did not know for a long time that she had a half-sister. After 10 years they met and became friends.

Bruno Freundlich said about Alice:

She has only one drawback: she smokes a lot, you demonic soul!

Freundlich started smoking at age 35, when her mother died. Since then he smokes a pack a day:

But I smoke light cigarettes through a mouthpiece, and with a strong filter,” he sighs.

She never doubted that she would become an actress. I just couldn’t decide which one - musical or dramatic. Freundlich had a rare mezzo-soprano voice and was recommended to enter the conservatory. But her father believed that she would be lost on the opera stage:

You're tiny, but you need texture.

In 1953, Freundlich entered the Leningrad Theater Institute. Soon she married a classmate, but the marriage quickly broke up. The actress met Igor Vladimirov in the late 50s. He was 15 years older than her. He took Alice from the Komissarzhevskaya Theater in Lensovet, which he directed. They got married in 1964. Three years later, a daughter, Varvara, was born.

“I gave birth late,” admits Freundlich. - When I was young, there was no time to think about children. Then she was treated for eight years. And then suddenly Varvara appeared! Obviously, fate forgave me.

The actress still regrets that she has only one child.

Freundlich had less luck in the cinema than in the theater. Pictures with her participation were not noticed. The film "Office Romance" brought her nationwide popularity, in which she played the headmistress Kalugina. The actress herself chose the appearance of her heroine. I found a size 52 crimple suit at Mosfilm. I worked on my gait.

There were a lot of boss aunts who walked like this back then,” he recalls.

In the early 80s, Lensoviet actor Yuri Solovey, 15 years younger than her, fell in love with Alice. They merried. But in the theater she was offered roles, but he was not. Yuri began to develop complexes and took his anger out on his wife. A few years later they separated.

Who would like it when they say about you: “Meet, this is Alisa Brunovna’s husband,” she explains.

But she remembers her husbands with warmth: “They were talented and very interesting.”

In her youth, Freundlich fell in love a lot. But that has already passed.

It’s too late for novels,” he laughs. - I have a healthy sense of humor: an old woman getting married is funny. And romantic relationships at my age are even funnier. This one requires a “potter” to grow geraniums together. Well, also so that he can fix the old floor lamp.

Now Freundlich has another passion - mushrooms. He says about himself: “A crazy mushroom picker is akin to a drunkard.”

“I don’t know how to cook, but my mushrooms are unsurpassed,” he boasts.

Daughter Varvara married Sergei Tarasov, vice-governor of St. Petersburg. They have two children. Now Freundlich calls only his grandson Nikita his favorite.

I love him. True, he once called me a “disgusting pot” because he woke me up at the wrong time. It’s rough, but you can’t deny him the imagery.

1934, December 8 - born in Leningrad
1955 - first role in the film "The Unfinished Tale"
1961 - actress of the Lensovet Theater in Leningrad
1964 - registered marriage with director Igor Vladimirov
1967 - daughter Varvara was born
1976 - starred in the film "Office Romance"
1981 - People's Artist of the USSR
1981 - divorce
1983 - married actor Yuri Solovy
1985 - divorce
Lives in St. Petersburg, has grandchildren Nikita and Anna.

Alisa Freundlich is the successor of the famous acting dynasty, the founder of which was her father Bruno Freundlich. She made her debut more than half a century ago on the stage of the Komissarzhevskaya Theater in the play “Time to Love.”

In the 60-70s, Freundlich worked at the Lensovet Theater. Here she played in the plays "Tanya", "Dulcinea of ​​Toboso", "Baby and Carlson" (she played the role of the Kid). In 1983, at the invitation of Georgy Tovstonogov, the actress joined the Bolshoi Drama troupe, where she created a whole gallery of bright female characters, recalls ITAR-TASS.

Viewers loved the roles of Alice Freundlich in the films "Office Romance", "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers", "Straw Hat", "Moscow Evenings", "Stalker".

December 8 is the anniversary of Alisa Freindlich, one of the most beloved actresses in the history of Russian cinema. A talented person is talented in everything. Freundlich proved this statement using the example of her own life: her teachers predicted her future as an outstanding chamber singer, she herself dreamed of a career as a ballerina, and in the end she became an actress who could play any role - from a child to an old woman.

The famous actress and honorary resident of St. Petersburg refused to celebrate her 75th birthday. On the eve of her anniversary, misfortune befell her - Alisa Brunovna's former son-in-law, ex-senator and head of Rosavtodor Sergei Tarasov, died in the Nevsky Express disaster.

On her birthday, the actress will play in the play "Uncle's Dream" on the stage of the Bolshoi Drama Theater. And on December 10, Freundlich will play in a production of Ronald Harwood's play "Quartet." Official celebrations are scheduled for January, but Alisa Brunovna’s colleagues and fans today cannot contain their words of admiration and love for the actress. “I bow to you, I love you, I congratulate you. And I’m sure that a lot of amazing roles still await us,” NTV quotes director Georgy Yungvald-Khilkevich as saying.

Eldar Ryazanov joins these wishes: “I am with you sincerely, because I love you, I always love you!”

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev congratulated Alisa Freindlich on her birthday: “Your rare dramatic talent and dedication to your chosen profession helped you create dozens of bright, unique images. Your heroines enjoy truly popular love. They leave neither critics nor colleagues indifferent. Working with you Famous actors and directors have always considered it an honor. And your creative path serves as a worthy example for the younger generation of artists.”

Last name - Freundlich

Alisa Freindlich has acting in her blood: her father was a famous actor at the Alexandrinsky Theater, her mother studied at drama courses at the Leningrad Theater of Working Youth, although she later worked as an accountant. Not only Alisa Freundlich was born in St. Petersburg, but about six generations of her ancestors, who were both royal pharmacists and gardeners.

The Freundlikhs lived in a communal apartment of a house that was listed on Grivtsova Lane, 1/64, and the front door overlooked the Moika. From the windows of their apartment the cathedral was clearly visible, and a five-minute walk from the house stood the famous Bronze Horseman and a beautiful view of the Neva. “Here I managed not to die during the blockade (my brother and sister and I were children then) and I consider this time my second birth - once again my guardian angel served. Having been born twice in the same city, he cannot be changed,” he quotes as saying Freundlich official website of the actress.

Between ballet and conservatory

Already in early childhood she loved to play in the theater. Secretly from my mother, I dressed up in her dresses, put on her high-heeled shoes and pretended to be fairies and princesses. At school, the future actress was lucky enough to get into a theater club led by Maria Aleksandrovna Prizvan-Sokolova, known to any Leningrad theatergoer.

After graduating from school, Alisa Freindlich began her studies at the Leningrad Theater Institute. Ostrovsky. The course was taught by Boris Volfovich Zohn. One day he gave his talented student a photograph with the inscription: “Dear Alice! You don’t dare leave any of your inclinations in vain: playing, reading, singing, dancing. Only in this case will you be in time everywhere and be happy.”

It was quite difficult to choose just one hobby. Freundlich even thought about going to ballet. “And when I grew up, I thought more about the conservatory. My voice was fine, and my hearing was perfect.”

While still a student, Freundlich played small film roles in the melodrama “The Unfinished Tale” and the drama “Talents and Admirers.” Then she married her classmate. However, soon after graduation they broke up.

First Lady of the Theater

The Komissarzhevskaya Theater became the launching pad for Freundlich. Her roles were mainly of the role of a drag queen. However, she was soon entrusted with the main role in the play “Time to Love.” This was the beginning of a new, melodramatic line in the actress’s work.

In the early 60s, the head of the Lensovet Theater Igor Vladimirov persuaded Freundlich to join his troupe. It was he who caught the specifics of the actress’s talent and restored Arbuzov’s play “Tanya” for her. Freundlich also shone in the production of Shakespeare's immortal work Romeo and Juliet. Her character, according to critics, was determined, mocking and brooding.

Actor Arthur Solomonov once spoke about the extraordinary effect that Freundlich produces on the audience: “Her fantastic charm reaches the last row of the stalls, the last tier. There are actresses who shine on the screen, but when they perform on stage, their energy does not reach beyond the first rows I deliberately looked at Freundlich from the audience from different distances: the effect was always equally powerful."

At the Lensoviet Theater, Freundlich soon became the first lady of the theater, which came at the cost of unimaginable overload. Her creative union with Vladimirov outgrew the family one. They got married. Here's how the actress herself talks about it in an interview with Novye Izvestia: “Igor Petrovich was sixteen years older than me, and I became his third wife. When we met, I was an absolutely blank slate in all everyday relationships. As an actress, I’m already formed, played a lot, if I were an inconspicuous speck, he would not have invited me to the theater. He was very smart, with an amazing sense of humor. I was interested - I greedily, like a sponge, absorbed everything he knew, could, could do. was rich. And I was not afraid to marry him, because everything about him was interesting to me, I had something to learn from him.”

In this marriage, the actress had a daughter, Varvara, who also became an actress.

"Love affair at work"

Freundlich had no luck in cinema for a long time. She was offered mainly small roles. Only in 1974 did she play her first big role - in Yevgeny Khrinyuk’s film story “Anna and the Commander”.

Director Eldar Ryazanov was able to truly discover Freundlich’s talent for the world of cinema, inviting the actress to play the role of Lyudmila Prokofievna Kalugina in the comedy melodrama “Office Romance.” Alisa Brunovna was then interested in the metamorphosis that was happening to her heroine: from a strict, ugly boss she turns into a charming, cheerful woman.

Freundlich created the image of her heroine bit by bit. She had to crawl through the entire Mosfilm dressing room to find a suitable size 52 crimple suit. And she borrowed Lyudmila Prokofievna’s gait from the “bossing aunts.”

In "Office Romance" the actress was able to demonstrate not only her acting abilities, but also her exceptional musicality. Freundlich's warm, lyrical style of performance instantly made the songs from the film - "Nature Has No Bad Weather" and "There Is No Peace for My Soul" - real hits. In subsequent years they were often performed on radio and television.

By the way, the song “Nature Has No Bad Weather” was written by Ryazanov, but he gave it to composer Andrei Petrov as “a poem by the English poet William Blake.”

The actress still considers this role one of her favorites. After the release of the film, she began to receive many letters in which women wrote: “After your film, we immediately went to the hairdresser, gave ourselves the same hairstyle, sewed ourselves the same dress and generally put ourselves in order.”

Personal life

The year 1979 brought the actress one of the best roles in her biography - Queen Anne in the adventure film D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers by George Yungvald-Khilkevich.

“I have never seen a living queen, except perhaps on TV or in the press. The director and I wanted to make an absolutely earthly woman, by whom nothing passed by - neither love, nor jealousy, nor fear, nor the triumph of victory. She is characterized by all emotions and everything human weaknesses. Yes, the queen! But behind the external ethical mesh there is a living person who experiences the same feelings as anyone else,” this is how the actress described her heroine.

For a long time, Alisa Freindlich and her husband Igor Vladimirov were inseparable both at home and at work. Together they worked a lot on their theater, but over time, Igor Petrovich began to be jealous of his wife for cinema.

After almost 20 years of marriage, they decided to separate. “We broke up with Igor Petrovich because he was a big lover of women. Yes, I wasn’t jealous of him for the time being, because he behaved very carefully. And then he began to drink heavily, he had such a terrible period,” recalls Alisa Brunovna.

After the divorce, they worked together for another five years, and in 1983 Alisa Freindlich left the Lensoveta Theater and became an actress at the Bolshoi Drama Theater. M. Gorky. Her third husband was actor Yuri Solovey. Before getting into the theater, he had not studied anywhere before, but, according to the actress, he was a very talented artist and painter.

Their relationship did not last long. This is how Alisa Brunovna explains the reason for the divorce: “Since Yuri did not graduate from anything, he had a lot of problems, although he is a very gifted person. And here is the fact that everything was always in order with me, but with him everything was always not in order , had a great effect on our relationship. When we realized that there was more stress than the body could withstand, we parted very amicably..."

In post-Soviet times, Alisa Freindlich began to appear in films less often. She played Queen Anne again in the sequel to The Musketeers, but The Musketeers Twenty Years Later was not as successful as the first film. Freundlich's great creative success was the role of a writer in the film "Moscow Nights" by Valery Todorovsky.

In the theater, Freundlich realized her old dream - she played the role of Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's tragedy. After this, the actress announced that she was leaving the BDT and began working by invitation in various theaters. One of the actress’s best recent works was her work in the film “On Verkhnyaya Maslovka.”

Girlfriend and button

Alisa Freundlich's daughter, Varvara Vladimirova, also devoted her life to the theater. After school, she entered the acting department of the Leningrad State Theater of Music and Cinematography. And later, mother and daughter appeared together in the play “Lessons of Tango and Love.”

According to Varvara, arrogance, pride, and stardom are completely absent in Alisa Freundlich. “Well, for example, they offer her a small fee, and she agrees. She won’t bargain for anything! Mom doesn’t know what a “rider” is, and when she goes on tour, she doesn’t ask for anything for herself.”

One of the actress's biggest fans is her grandson Nikita. Once he even helped his grandmother work on the role of the boy Oscar in the Lensovet play.

When asked how he sees his grandmother, Nikita replies: “Smart, insightful, kind, modest, tactful. Knows etiquette, probably even better than the person who invented it! Crazy workaholic, but at the same time manages to take care of herself and is an amazing cook. caring man".

Alisa Brunovna is affectionately called by her grandson “button” or “gnome”: “After all, she is only 1 m 53 cm tall, and I am 1 m 97 cm. When we stand next to each other, we look very funny!”

The material was prepared by the editors of rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

I fell in love with Alisa Freindlich, like the entire population of our country, after watching “Office Romance” in the cinema.

I watched An Old Fashioned Comedy almost every day. I enjoyed everything - phrases, glances, gestures, I reveled in the huge range of their intonations, the timbres of their voices - I literally absorbed this film, I immersed myself in it, I simply resonated with it! I saw this love - not the love of Citizen Gerber and Rodion Nikolaevich, I saw the love of Alisa Freundlich and Igor Vladimirov. How he looked at her!!! So a man can look only in a state of passion, and passion that has already calmed down, stable, which is, in fact, what is called love. It was the husband’s pride and admiration for his wife, the theater’s chief director’s pride and admiration for his prima, the teacher’s pride and admiration for his student.
She looked at him differently, as if she was saying - this is who I am, I love you so much, and do you love me? And in response, he bathed her in his eyes... Remember how Sasha Tsekalo and Lolita Milyavskaya loved to say - bathe us in applause - that’s how they bathed in each other’s glances. If in “Office Romance” Alisa Brunovna had to captivate a stranger, then in “Old-Fashioned Comedy” she had to captivate her own husband again and again - and this is much more difficult! On the other hand, from the very first frames of this picture he himself was in love with her, as they say, “head over heels” and did not hide it... Sometimes, however, his gaze “went somewhere for a short time”, it was clear that he somewhere far away, not on the stage and thinking about something of his own, but when he “returned”, it was noticeable that he wanted to set off his beloved woman with his background and present the viewer... He almost didn’t even play this role, he was too organic for her, he was just a sparring partner, a man who loved his wife. I think that the time they worked on this film was one of the best periods of their lives.
I have never seen such love in the eyes of anyone else in any film or performance! How sorry I am that they broke up!
I literally got sick after that, moreover, I started smoking! Watching her deliciously puff on her cigarettes, I couldn’t resist repeating the puff...

This has never happened to me either. At one time, in order to combat smoking, high-ranking officials cut out footage of smoking characters from films. I was always surprised - well, is it really possible to start smoking if the hero in the movie smokes? Smoking of anyone, especially an on-screen movie character, has never been an incentive for me, but after Alice Freundlich’s final cigarettes in “An Old-Fashioned Comedy” I finally started smoking...

Remember the famous phrase of secretary Verochka in “Office Romance”? - “You can teach a hare to smoke!” - so I turned out to be that “hare” - Alisa Freindlich taught me to smoke...

“It is impossible to accomplish everything you want in an ordinary, short creative life. You can’t be such a glutton and regret all the roles you haven’t played.” Alisa Freindlich Photo: Valery Plotnikov

- But Georgy Alexandrovich’s health was already undermined, and in 1989 he passed away...

His latest work is “At the Bottom”. When he started it, he was already very sick. If you read the play, in Gorky everyone is young - no more than thirty years old. And Tovstonogov assembled a team of actors who were much older than the characters. Ivchenko - Satin, Basilashvili - Baron, Strzhelchik - Actor, Lebedev - Luka, Kryuchkova - Vasilisa. I got Nastya, although I also had fifty dollars. We started rehearsing great. Tovstonogov, as usual, asked us to write biographies of the heroes, to figure out who has what kind of life behind them. And then we separated for the summer to continue working in the fall. In the summer, Tovstonogov was invited to America to stage, I think, “Uncle Vanya,” and he went. He was already ill and took advantage of the consultation of a doctor there who looked at his heart and blood vessels. He prescribed him treatment and said: “If you don’t stop smoking, you won’t live a year.” Tovstonogov returned to Leningrad terribly frightened. And he began to quit smoking. A famous acupuncturist, apparently named Broyko, was brought to the theater from Yalta, with a 97 percent success rate and only three failures. And it just happened to be us...

A group gathered for sessions with the acupuncturist: Goga, his sister Natella, me. The heavy smoker Lyalya Kotova also came from Moscow to start Sovremennik. For some reason, Volchek did not make it to Leningrad... And so we sat down, and they inserted all sorts of needles into our ears. It looked funny... Georgy Alexandrovich came to rehearsals, leaving his cigarettes... Everyone thought that he had quit. But then he started rehearsing, then he faded, faded, and we saw that he didn’t even look at the stage. Then he took a short break, left, and when he came, he began to rehearse cheerfully and interestingly. Then we found out that Goga was running in the toilet to smoke a cigarette. Tovstonogov never quit smoking. And indeed, things soon got worse. And here we have director Vorobiev directing “The Old Lady’s Visit”, the last dress rehearsals are underway. Georgy Alexandrovich, who had already begun to walk very poorly, but went to the theater every day, that day sat in a box to see what was happening on stage, and, as if on purpose, ended up on the funeral stage. Valentina Kovel and Oleg Basilashvili played the main roles. Tovstonogov’s assistant Irochka later said that Goga entered the office and said: “That’s it, I’ll go home. Roll out my car for me, I haven’t driven for a long time...” Everyone was a little scared.

IN DECEMBER, Alice Freundlich, one of the most beloved and largest actresses of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, has her anniversary. And although Alisa Brunovna herself, like any woman, does not like to talk about age, numbers sometimes flash in her interviews. “I started smoking when I was 35, after my mother died. And for 35 years now I’ve been smoking a pack of cigarettes a day,” Freundlich “carelessly” confesses...

HAVING PLAYED dozens of roles (and often what!) in theater and cinema, for most viewers Alisa Brunovna is, first of all, Mymra from “Office Romance” by Eldar Ryazanov. However, despite the crazy success of the film, which was awarded the State Prize, Freundlich was the only one who did not receive this very prize. I ask the hero of the day:

Was it a shame that everyone but you became laureates?

No, I’m so used to some restrictions that were adopted in the Council of Deputies. It was even funny to me.

Doesn’t it offend you that the first thing that comes to mind is Mymra from “Office Romance”?

Despite dozens of film roles, for most viewers Freundlich is Mymra from Ryazanov’s “Office Romance.” Still from the film: with Myagkov - Novoseltsev

A little bit. But this is really true. Although the success of this film among young viewers is a mystery to me. By the way, Eldar Aleksandrovich invited me to play the role of Shurochka Azarova in “The Hussar Ballad” (later played by Larisa Golubkina). But it didn’t work out. But in “Office Romance” we really did some good work.

“The key role in the film was, of course, Kalugina,” recalls Eldar Ryazanov. - It’s not without reason that one of the options for the title of the film was discussed for a long time - “The Tale of the Guiding Cinderella.” And if the charming prince at the end of the film turns out to be an unsightly statistician at first, then the unattractive Mymra should be transformed by the talent of the performer into a charming princess. We became friends during filming. It was impossible not to fall under the charm of Alisa Brunovna - feminine, human, acting."

Eldar Aleksandrovich is right, one hundred percent right. It is impossible not only not to fall under the Actress’s charm, it is impossible not to fall in love with her. My first meeting with Alisa Brunovna took place in some room (either in a theater or at a film studio), in which, among all the furnishings, there was an old desk, a falling apart chair, and, inexplicably, how and for what purpose, a large rubber ball got there. “So, so, Igor,” Freundlich tried to order. - You sit down on a chair. And I... And I’ll sit on the ball. It’s okay, it’ll be convenient for me.”

Of course, no one allowed her to pretend to be an athlete resting on her sports equipment. We went to a cafe and had a nice conversation there. But the lack of star pathos, Freundlich’s sincerity and simplicity won me over.

It turns out that in your scale of values ​​you are not in first place? Are you not the closest person to yourself?

- (Laughs.) No-no. In any case, there are enough compromises in my life.

Where did the myth about your obnoxious character come from?

Are you serious? Is this really what they say about me? I wonder why that would be.

But can you, if necessary, put a presumptuous person in his place?

Sometimes I find some strength and arguments within myself to do this. But sometimes I get lost. And only in hindsight, when I become so smart, do I think why I didn’t say that.

Many journalists are afraid to even call you.

I very often refuse interviews. 5 people call me every day. I talk to everyone personally. Because if I set an answering machine, I will be forced to listen to various fools who call and remain silent. Or their monologues.

Does it hurt when people tell lies about you?

Well, what about it? Like all Sagittarius, I have a keen sense of justice.

Mezzo-soprano with a strong crown

“I had a rare mezzo-soprano, and I was destined for the conservatory”

Freundlich's parents - Bruno Arturovich and Ksenia Fedorovna - met in a theater studio. However, after the birth of their daughter, their paths diverged. Bruno Freundlich, having evacuated with the theater during the war, returned to Leningrad with a new family. And Ksenia Fedorovna worked at a military factory during the war, and then as a senior controller at the Central Savings Bank of Leningrad.

Alisa Brunovna, why did your parents name you Alisa? It was a fairly rare name back then, wasn't it?

Yes. At that time, even Carroll’s book “Alice in Wonderland” was not translated. Dad came up with this. I don't know what came into his head. Mom had completely different intentions - she wanted to call me Natasha. To which grandmother and father said: “Why are you creating such a strange mess for the girl - Natalya Brunovna Freundlich.” As a result, they named me Alice.

Do you often remember your childhood? What are your most vivid memories?

They are, of course, fragmentary. I remember I was sick with scarlet fever and was forced to stay at home. My grandmother used to take me to the bakery and buy me a cake. And then I woke up in the morning - my grandmother had already left. I put a stool next to the door, opened the latch and ran after my grandmother in my nightgown. And we had to cross 3-4 roads. When I found my grandmother, I was hit hard. Then there were times like this - while I was not at home, the door was wide open and no one came in.

I also remember that when dad came from rehearsal, he always went to bed during the day. For him, a daytime dream was like “Our Father,” in order to create for himself the illusion of a new day after the morning rehearsal before the evening performance. Dad conveyed this need to me too. And then one day he lay down and left me completely alone - my grandmother was doing something, my mother had gone to work. I walked around him in circles for a long time, not letting him fall asleep. And when he finally dozed off, she poked him in the eye with a pencil. I wanted to wake him up in such a sadistic way. She was flogged for this and placed behind the stove in the corner. I remember like it was yesterday.

Do you have any nostalgia for that time?

I don’t remember that time enough to judge it from the positions from which I judge it today. This was before the war.

When you were growing up, who was great to you?

In my youth, I was in awe of Maria Babanova. And first of all from the elegance of her voice. It contained some kind of music for me, something to imitate. I saw her on stage less than I heard her on the radio. I drew pictures of her appearance and imagined what she was doing on stage at that time. When the painting “The Road” appeared in the 60s, I fell in love with Juliet Masina.

Freundlich herself never doubted that she would become an actress. But at first I couldn’t decide what kind of actress to become - musical or dramatic. “I had a good voice,” says Alisa Brunovna. “A high mezzo-soprano, quite rare, and I was destined for the conservatory.”

The decisive voice was the father's, with whom, despite the categorical objections of his second wife, Alice met. Bruno Arturovich directly told his daughter that on the opera stage she would be lost (“You’re a baby, but there you need texture”), but on the dramatic stage she would be able to use her voice, and her appearance would not be a hindrance.

The actress could not avoid comparisons with her famous father. However, they did not irritate her at all. And Freundlich’s daughter Varvara left the acting profession because of such conversations

Of course, it was impossible to avoid conversations that, supposedly, a famous artist is trying to find a home for his daughter. However, Alice was not at all annoyed by the rumors. “Apparently, I had a strong crown - I just didn’t let them into me. In addition, any whispering caused surges of healthy anger in me: to prove that I myself mattered something. Alas, Varya, my daughter, is not like me in this sense and left the profession precisely because of the endless gossip behind her back: she is similar or not similar, nature is resting or not resting.”

Alisa Brunovna, is life difficult for you in general?

It happens both ways. In general, it’s not easy. Today, more and more often - maybe this is due to age, when assessments are not so frivolous - I remember that Ranevskaya asked to write on her tombstone: “She died of disgust.” People are losing morality at such a breakneck speed that I'm scared for my grandchildren. They find themselves in this atmosphere and will grow in it. What will become of them when they grow up and begin to choose their own values, when they have almost nothing to choose from?

Perhaps you tend to “wind up” yourself? Everything is actually not that bad, but you convince yourself that everything is terrible.

Unfortunately, I tend to exaggerate all sorts of negative thoughts. Then I try to suppress it within myself. I understand that thought is energetic. But the first impulse is fear. This is bad quality. But it is there. I'm afraid of a lot of things.

That something will happen to my loved ones. That it won't turn out the way I wanted. I still have stage fright, especially if there hasn’t been a performance for a long time or some new unusual setting - a city, a country, a hall. These are constant fears. Another thing is that I try to extinguish them with something. I know that fear does not lead to good results. This is the subject of some kind of internal struggle.

Have your grandchildren grown up quickly?

That's just not the case here. They are growing before my eyes. Sometimes I even think: why are they growing up so slowly, I won’t have time to see them big. And I really want this.

Mom, mother-in-law, grandmother

The second husband of the actress was the chief director of the Theater. Lensovet Igor Vladimirov. Their daughter Varvara bears her father's surname

The personal life of the actress... However, that’s why it’s personal, so that only Freundlich herself knows about it. And we only know the names of her two husbands - journalist Vladimir Karasev and the famous theater director Igor Vladimirov, with whom she had a daughter, Varya.

What does Varya do?

She is a self-critical person. Fortunately. Her enthusiasm was dampened at one time by constantly being compared to me. And she said she didn't want this whispering behind her back. She was busy giving birth to children. They demanded her time. She didn’t have time to do anything at all in the theater. And she appeared in films a little - she starred in two films. She didn't have time to realize herself. Her father invited her to the theater while he was still alive, I invited her to the theater, but she said: “No, no, I don’t want to. If only in the movies." Because cinema is kind of not my area. She didn't get on the same page as me. She has two or three experiences in cinema...

By the way, Varya herself didn’t really want to go on stage. “My parents were passionate about me following in their footsteps,” she says. “I remember my mother played the piano and sang some kind of children’s song, she provoked me to repeat after her, she wanted to understand whether the child had hearing. Here she sings, and I am silent. She: “Well, Varenka, I’ll sing now, you repeat after me, and then we’ll sing together.” I'm silent. I look at her for a long time with a hard look, and then I say: “Are you eating? And sing!”

I didn’t intend to be an actress, but I wanted something close to the theater. After all, I grew up behind the scenes. I decided to go to the Faculty of Theater Studies. But I was bored there. A year later I went to acting class. I thought: even if nothing happens later, at least I’ll have fun. And when “later” came, I chickened out. I didn’t go to work in the theater, I didn’t feel confident. Here mom is like this, here dad is like this... What am I doing? And I went on television. I worked there as an assistant director."

A few years ago, Varvara returned to the profession and played in the play “California Suite”, where her partners were Alisa Freundlich and Oleg Basilashvili. However, calling this performance a “return” is not entirely correct, because the entire role of Vladimirova - a call girl - consisted of silently reclining in the bed of her unfortunate husband, played by Basilashvili. True, she had to lie silently throughout the entire act.

Varya’s main job is to be the mother of two charming children and the wife of Sergei Tarasov, vice-governor of St. Petersburg.

Varvara Vladimirova with her children Nikita and Anya and her husband Sergei Tarasov. At their first meetings, Alisa Brunovna was embarrassed to make comments to her son-in-law. While listening to him, she wrote down the incorrectly pronounced words and discreetly slipped this piece of paper to Sergei

The relationship between Freundlich-mother-in-law and Tarasov-son-in-law is a separate story, worthy of admiration and worthy of imitation. In one of his interviews, Sergei spoke about his meeting with Varvara and his future mother-in-law: “By this time I was already over thirty. Since the early nineties, he has been continuously engaged in various businesses. Back then it was all new, it was a thrill for men. I came into business with a good life school. He worked in the police, as a loader, and as a turner. Some residual phenomena of that life are still observed today. There are, for example, small problems with the Russian language. I can honestly admit that I mastered the words “precedent” and “incident” when I was already married, with the help of Alice.”

Earthly life of the goddess

DO YOU think that a person makes life himself or is everything prescribed from above?

I believe that something is prescribed. But I understand that everyone is given a chance. Here's a fairy tale: when you go, there will be three roads in front of you - one will lead there, and the other there. Fairy tale. There will always be some option. If you have enough common sense or intuition, do the right thing.

Do you have good intuition?

Sometimes I get into trouble. But you see, what a thing... I came to the conclusion that it is better to listen to intuition. There were times when I listened to my first inner message - and it turned out to be correct. But if I started to think and chose something else, then I regretted it later.

Do you have any regrets at all?

Yes. These reflections are a lesson for the future.

What do you need to be happy today?

Firstly, to keep my children and grandchildren healthy and safe. Because the moment of danger in our lives today is very significant. Or if yesterday’s applause after the performance had gone to my daughter Varya, and at that time I would have been sitting in the auditorium.

Do you allow yourself to be lazy sometimes?

I can be lazy in everyday life. I have such piles of papers at home - scripts, plays - that I need a month to sort it all out and put things in order. And I think: oh, okay. I’ll die, Varya, my daughter, I’ll take everything out of the house with a bulldozer. I just warn you: “Varka, don’t throw everything out. Because among the papers there may be Astrid Lindgren’s autograph or Tarkovsky’s notes.”

Do you have any favorite philosophical sayings or proverbs?

If I read somewhere a wonderfully formulated thought of my own, I use it with pleasure. When I was studying at the institute, my teacher constantly repeated: “If youth knew, if old age could.” I realized the wisdom of this phrase much later. The proverb “Little lies breed great mistrust” served me well when my daughter was growing up. I had little time to raise her, although I am convinced that instructions are nothing compared to my own example. One day Varya didn’t do her homework, but she told me that everything was fine. As punishment, I made her write a whole notebook with this phrase. And she achieved success. Thank God, I never caught her telling a lie again in her entire 30-year life.

Do you lead an earthly life? Are you going shopping?

Yes please. Now your task is to debunk the rumors about my obnoxious character. One problem - during our conversation I smoked so many cigarettes, it’s terrible! I always do this - as soon as the phone rings, I pick up the receiver with one hand, and the other immediately reaches for a cigarette. I don't even notice it.

Well then, while the cigarette is still smoldering, one last question. Do you know that you are a great actress?

How can I understand this? I sometimes hear such assessments and think: why are you in such a hurry? Let me die. And then appreciate it.

DOSSIER "SZ"

Alisa Brunovna Freindlich

Born on December 8, 1934 in Leningrad. People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of the Triumph Award, laureate of State Awards, honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, laureate of the Golden Mask Award, laureate of the Idol Award, winner of Niki in the category "Supporting Role" (film "Moscow Nights" ). She starred in the films “Adventures of a Dentist”, “Cruel Romance”, “Office Romance”, the television series “Women’s Logic”, etc. She serves at the Bolshoi Drama Theater. Tovstonogov. Lives in St. Petersburg.

Igor IZGARSHEV
Photo by ITAR-TASS, S. IVANOV, A. ANTONOV Rodionov Publishing House
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The dramatic comedy “Frostbitten Carp,” in which Alisa Freindlich played one of the main roles, was released. The work was important for the actress - her grandson Nikita Vladimirov undertook to produce the film. On the eve of the premiere, Alisa Brunovna invited an Izvestia correspondent to her home. Having apologized (“I know this is not pedagogical, but I will smoke”), the People’s Artist of the USSR began the conversation by praising the young producer who was sitting modestly next to her.

In general, he’s doing great for me, of course! He took on this film when he didn’t have a single ruble. Mortgaged my apartment, borrowed all kinds of supplies and savings from all our relatives (laughs). I started the project with great faith that everything would definitely work out.

- And it worked out.

Yes, but with what difficulties! In October (2016 - Izvestia) we had to film everything on location in a very short time. It took literally 10 days to catch the passing autumn. And Marinochka Neelova was scheduled to premiere at the theater at that very time. Then we really asked Galina Borisovna Volchek to push back the premiere performances a little for our sake. She has known Nikita since childhood, so she took our request very seriously and did everything to give us the opportunity to film the material.

We managed to do everything. Part of the film was shot with some absolute pocket money, squeezed out of our own resources. Then, after some time, Nikita made absolutely incredible efforts to get more money and finish filming the movie. But neither the Cinema Fund nor the Union of Cinematographers responded.

Through considerable effort and sacrifice, we found a private investor - a person who emerged, so to speak, from oblivion, who gave us the financial opportunity to finish the film in February. You can imagine: they filmed the location in October, then they disbanded the whole group for a while, and a few months later they got together again and completed filming the pavilion.

It’s a paradox that the film, in which Freundlich, Neyolova, Puskepalis, Mironov play, is not given state money.

I don't know why this is happening. These money-giving structures have their own system of coordinates; I don’t want to catch anyone by the hand, so to speak. Probably, there are also some “springs” or their own sequence... Nikita is a young man completely unfamiliar to the world of cinema, and the film’s screenwriters are not very well-promoted (Dmitry Lanchikhin, Oksana Karas, Andrei Taratukhin. - Izvestia). And suddenly they wanted to present something to this world (smiles).

As for the cast, Nikita, due to his charm, infectiousness and references to family or creative friendship, even managed to persuade very busy actors to film episodes. This is great valor, human charm, the ability to lure and persuade (laughs).

- Do you follow what is happening in modern cinema?

- Once I know that a good film has been released, I don't mind sacrificing some time and going to the cinema. Just walk to our St. Petersburg “Aurora” and have a look. Or, it happens, the series was shown on television and there is very good word of mouth about it, good reviews from people I trust. Then the children download it in its entirety for me, and I always watch it while on vacation or at the dacha. Of the general heap, I liked “Liquidation” and two or three other series the most.

I can't watch series on TV. I'll watch one episode and, for example, skip the next one because I work in the theater. The plot thread is immediately lost. To watch TV series, you need to sit down in front of the TV for a week or more every evening and follow the intricacies of the script.

Many actors of your generation yearn for the ideals of Soviet cinema. They say that modern cinema has lost a lot in quality and soulfulness. Do you have an opinion on this matter?

Unfortunately, all modern films and TV series are fixated on crime. Perhaps this is because crime has become the topic of a very large number of television programs, from which it is not difficult to “get” material for a script. Newspapers and magazines also have crime pages, and you can glean some storylines from them...

Since they became more willing to film about various kinds of crimes, conversation about simple truths began to disappear somewhere from our cinema: about friendship, love, good and evil, honesty... Yes, about all seven human sins, which always had their own alternative aspect. These simple truths remain beyond human attention today.

As for films of the Soviet period, the best examples have been selected by time. It’s hard to imagine how many films were made back then—a great many. This small grain has long since fallen out through the strainer, leaving behind the large grain - paintings that have become classics. We only look at them today and swear by them as our valor. But we don’t go into detail about how much Soviet junk was removed, but it was. Today's good films, like Soviet ones, will eventually be weeded out like a strainer.

- « Frostbitten carp"raises the topic of mutual relationships between fathers and sons, also demonstrating the gulf that technology has created between them. Do you think the Internet has had a major impact on making it more difficult for children to communicate with their parents?

Yes, this is a topic for an entire dissertation! I don't dare to talk that deeply. But to put it briefly, technology has gone far ahead, and children from an early age grab all these iPads and iPhones and instantly master them. Probably some kind of cosmic influence gives them the opportunity to instantly master these gadgets (laughs). They don’t even need special training.

Of course, due to all this, a divergence in the understanding of the world between generations arises, further widening the already deep gap. My grandchildren, for example, are not interested in discussing topics related to the Internet with me, because I haven’t gotten into it and won’t get into it anymore (laughs). And they don’t read the books that I continue to read.

By the way, I really like rereading books. I also like to read new ones that are unfamiliar to me, but most of all I like to reread books that once made a great impression on me. I read them again and again and get a completely different perspective of perception, I learn things that are completely new to me. Therefore, it is interesting for me to return to what I read. But they don't read (points to Nikita), shameless! (Laughs.)

- What books do you return to?

- "The Eighth Day" by Thornton Wilder and "Look to Thy Home, O Angel" by Thomas Wolfe once made a strong impression on me. I'm not even talking about The Master and Margarita. It’s funny to say, but I once read “War and Peace” under duress, as part of the school curriculum.

Now, when we staged a play based on this novel in the theater, I, of course, took the trouble to re-read it. I received enormous pleasure, because now I was going into details. This conversation with Tolstoy suddenly seemed interesting to me. It was a good conversation(smiles).

- In one interview you complained thatl People today are losing morality at a breakneck speed. Where do values ​​disappear from modern life: are we not taught this or do they cease to matter to us?

It's difficult for me to answer. And I would consider it a great honor if I could find the answer to this question. Maybe this happens due to some speed of life...

A long time ago, in one of the magazines I read an article called “Futuroshock”. Already 30 years ago, or even more, this term was used to describe a disease associated with an incredible amount of information and the same crazy speed of its absorption.

The article said that this disease causes fear of the future. Not because the new generation is afraid of him (they are very brave). But because this generation absorbs those simple truths that have always been important.

Then it seemed to me that this was due to the loss of religious values. After all, there was a period when religion was completely abandoned. Now they have begun to swear and swear by it, although it is absolutely not necessary to go to church and pray. You just need to remember simple gospel truths. There are not many of them: only 10 commandments that apply to absolutely all aspects of life. But something was irretrievably lost along the way to today. Apparently, some aspect still fell out. I don’t dare to formulate it, because this is a very complex topic.

- What do you most often regret, Alisa Brunovna? About what was done or what was not done?

You have to turn over your entire long life to remember. If you mean an unworthy act, it makes sense to regret it all your life - this is the topic of confession. Regretting what has not been done is pointless, because time has passed, so why regret it? You can, of course, regret it, but only for the gymnastics of feelings, nothing more.

If I did something unworthy, I will curse myself for it all my life. If I failed to do something worthy, then some circumstances were to blame.

Izvestia Help

In 1953, she was accepted into Boris Zone's course at the Leningrad Theater Institute. A.N. Ostrovsky. She worked in the troupe of the Komissarzhevskaya Theater, at the Lensovet Theater and - to this day - at the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater. She played more than 60 roles in films, including “Office Romance”, “12 Chairs”, “D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” and others.