About Love (2015) Plot Summary Explained

At the "Strelka" center, a female lecturer, played by Renata Litvinova, delivers an open lecture “About love,” blending biological science with the romanticism of poetry and music. As the audience participates in various experiments, several intersecting stories of love and longing unfold.

One plot follows a police raid on an anime club. Among those detained are Himea and Taito, a couple who have dated for six months but have only ever interacted through digital avatars. Their attempt at a traditional date fails miserably; they only find common ground and a successful connection once they dress as anime characters. Witnessing this, a lonely police officer, played by Ravshana Kurkova, decides to pursue a similar path to find companionship.

Meanwhile, a businessman, portrayed by Vladimir Mashkov, dismisses his entire staff due to an economic crisis. He makes a predatory offer to his office manager, Yuliya Snigir as Liza: she can keep her job in exchange for sex. This proposal creates a rift between Liza and her boyfriend Grisha, played by Aleksey Filimonov, who has been unemployed and gaming for months. In a twist of timing, Liza accepts the businessman's offer just before Grisha intends to propose to her.

In another thread, Miyako, a Japanese woman visiting a Russian culture festival, seeks a Russian husband via a dating site. After a disappointing encounter with a married man, she finds genuine connection with a fellow Japanese participant from her hometown. After a night of discussing the Russian soul and singing "Gop-Stop" to a guitar, the two fall in love.

Then there is Yevgeni Tsyganov as Boris, a public figure who advocates for removing city monuments while secretly acting as a graffiti artist. He paints the women he loves on city walls. When his wife discovers this hobby via Instagram, she attempts to destroy one of his murals, only to meet the woman in the painting. Instead of fighting, the two women spend a night together and eventually decide to form a throuple with Boris.

The narrative circles back to the lecturer. She arranges a sexual encounter with her ex-boyfriend, who reveals he is engaged but believes his fiancée used a voodoo doll to bind him to her. He seeks a paid consultation to remove the "love spell," but the lecturer refuses to help after taking his money. As she leaves, she crosses paths with Yevgeni Tsyganov as Boris, becoming his latest source of artistic inspiration.