The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language

1975 · 184 mins · Russian

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Starring

Liya Akhedzhakova, Aleksandr Shirvindt, Valentina Talyzina, Eldar Ryazanov, Aleksandr Belyavskiy, Barbara Brylska

A group of longtime friends gathers at a public bath on New Year’s Eve, where excess vodka and beer often leave two of them passed out. Sasha is supposed to travel to Leningrad, but Zhenya mistakenly boards the flight. He awakes at Leningrad’s airport, assumes he’s still in Moscow, and takes a taxi home—only to find the Soviet‑style streets, building numbers and even his apartment key identical to those in Moscow. He stumbles into Nadya’s flat, still in his underwear, shocking her and later her fiancé, setting off a far‑crowned comedy of errors.