Hello, Fools! (Russian: Привет, дуралеи!, romanized: Privet, duralei!) is a 1996 Russian film directed by Eldar Ryazanov. The film is a fantastical melodrama and comedy.
Contents
Plot
Jura Kablukov is a cheerful, kind, but very unlucky man. He works as a cleaner of historical monuments in Moscow, together with his friend, Fedor, a folk craftsman, who is spoiled with women's attention. Kablukov is divorced and his ex-wife, Svetlana, a millionaire manager of a fashion agency, wants to evict him from their apartment.
Some time ago Kablukov had a strange dream: he, Jura Kablukov, is the French jeweler Auguste Derulen, who lives with his wife, beautiful Polina in Moscow during the October Revolution. On the eve of a search (equivalent to a brazen robbery) committed by "revolutionary" soldiers and sailors, Auguste and Polina hide gold and jewelry into a statue adorning the walls of their apartment.
Soon an even more strange event comes to pass. Jura meets with Ksenia, a sweet and kind but very absentminded girl. Ksenia is losing vision catastrophically fast, and because of this, constantly lands into trouble. Ksenia is similar to the jeweler's wife out Jura's dream, and it soon becomes clear that she is a descendant of the Derulen family.
Thus it appears that Jura's dream was prophetic; the events he experienced in the dream truly took place many years ago. On the advice of Fedor, Kablukov's experienced friend, the buddies begin to search for treasures that are still immured in the statue, which is located in Ksenia's apartment.
Cast
Tatyana Drubich as Ksenia Zasypkina/Polina Derulen
Slava Polunin as Jura Kablukov/Auguste Derulen (voice by Andrey Myagkov)
Tatyana Dogileva as Svetlana, the former Jura Kablukov's wife, a millionaire
Boris Shcherbakov as Fedor, driver, gunner and folk craftsman
Alexander Schirvindt as leader of the Social-Socialist party, is a clear parody of both Gennady Zyuganov and Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Olga Volkova as ophthalmologist
Vyacheslav Kulakov as Tolik, Svetlana's driver
Aleksandr Pashutin as drunk revolutionary officer from Jura Kablukov's dream
Andrey Smolyakov as Volodya, bodyguard
Sergey Stepanchenko as Stepan, bodyguard
Anatoliy Rudenko as Mitrofan, Jura Kablukov's son (acting debut)
Ruslan Akhmetov as customer
Alexey Buldakov as foreman from Ukraine
Nikolai Garo as Ksenia Zasypkina's unlucky admirer
Nikita Pomerantcev as Ksenia Zasypkina's unlucky admirer
Yan Tsapnik as real estate agent
Eldar Ryazanov as Nikolai Timofeyevich, director of the bookstore
Facts
The film was banned in Ukraine because Jan Tsapnik was declared as a danger to the country.