Vsevolod Sanaev with his wife. Pavel Sanaev: “Grandma loved us with tyrannical fury

Ashes of the wife of Vsevolod Sanaev buried almost a year after her death

Ashes of the wife of Vsevolod Sanaev buried almost a year after her death

Vsevolod SANAEV would have turned 100 this year. His fans learned about the difficult personal life of a wonderful actor from the story “Bury me behind the plinth”, written by his grandson Pavel. But the daughter, Elena SANAEVA, actress and widow of Rolan BYKOV, asks not to confuse a work of art and real life. She spoke about this in many interviews. But only to the readers of Express Newspaper Elena Vsevolodovna revealed some family secrets which were previously silent.

- There is an opinion that Vsevolod Vasilyevich was unhappy in his personal life.

Happy is every person who is born. Of the millions of spermatozoa, one broke through, and the miracle of life happened. At the age of 17, my father became very ill. One day he said to his mother: "I'll probably die soon." To which she, a woman who had lost half of her twelve children, replied: “Sevka, do not be sad. There, upstairs, there is an old man, and he has a little book - everything is written in it about everyone. These words instilled faith in dad, he got out of a serious illness and decided to become an artist.

Of course. Faina Ranevskaya, whom I met in a sanatorium, told me that a person with the talent of Yermolova or with the character of Stalin can work in the theater. Dad didn't have that kind of personality. When he served in the Moscow Art Theater, one day he fell ill famous actor Mikhail Yanshin, and his father played his part. And according to the law, if you performed the hero twice, then you already have the right to take turns going on stage with a colleague. So Yanshin came to the second performance with high temperature, so as not to give up your place to anyone. Over time, my father left the Moscow Art Theater, realizing that as long as the backbone of the actors of the old theater was alive, he would not be given a sensible job.

- Did your father have many ill-wishers?

Yes. Especially in the cinema. But dad, like the great Kachalov, did not notice them.

Persecution mania

- Your parents have lived together for more than half a century. What allowed them to save the family?

Mom is a man of great devotion, and dad grew up in a family where wives are not abandoned. When, in the early 1950s, my mother fell ill and ended up in a psychiatric hospital with a diagnosis of persecution mania, actor Sergei Lukyanov advised my father: “Seva, leave everything to Lydia and leave her. Trust me, it will get worse." Dad replied that his wife bore him two children (the eldest son Alyosha died during the war at the age of two from measles and diphtheria. - I. G.), gave youth, beauty. Say, a sick dog is not thrown out into the street, how could he leave his wife.

Was your mother afraid of losing your father?

There are temptations in the acting profession, but it all depends on the measure of talent. You can play any passion without opening your heart to meet your partner. However, my father never considered himself handsome, my mother also thought so. She was a smart, interesting and sharp-tongued woman. Emotions never held back. She and I often accompanied my father on film expeditions.

Did he sincerely think so?

Of course. Mom read more than dad. She was interested in many things, woke her husband's attention to something more than his favorite fishing. Gave advice on work. True, she has not always shown insight. For example, she was categorically against my father agreeing to the role of Husky in Optimistic Tragedy: “You are so positive, you play heroes. How are you going to play such a scum?! I then studied at the theater institute and convinced him: “Dad, you are an actor, and refuse such interesting role it is forbidden". And it turned out to be right! Prior to that, he played a series of passable and faceless characters.

Disposable women

"Did your father never have a love interest?"

Maybe he had some short meetings, but this did not concern the family. No one wrote letters to him, no one guarded under the door. Once, when I was already an adult, my father shared with me: “You know, on film expeditions, when you and your mother were not around, I always told women that I have a wife and a daughter and I will never leave them.” When a man immediately warns about this, then women understand: yes, something one-time can turn out, but you should not count on more.

- Were you not afraid that your mother, who at one time was observed by psychiatrists, could commit suicide?

Depressive states caused by the fact that she did not take place in life, of course, happened to her. But my mother never blackmailed my father and me. It happened that she expressed dissatisfaction with me, but quite justifiably. Youth is insanely selfish.

He first headed the acting section in the Union, and then began to lead the household section. Apartments, funerals, monuments, referrals to sanatoriums - all this was dealt with by his commission. I remember how early in the morning Regina, the wife of Mikhail Kozakov, called us at home. And she began to complain that they were denied a ticket to Pitsunda, and Margarita Gladunko, who was lucky, instead of herself sent her sister and daughter there. Well, the father had to stand on the platform and check who went with whom and where ?! By the way, neither dad, nor I, nor my husband Rolan Bykov have ever been to Pitsunda. For the right to go there was a real war!

- And why did Sanaev take other people's worries on his shoulders?

He felt that people needed him, that they treated him well. When the House of Cinema Veterans was being built, it was dad who did a great job: he beat out the ground, looked for builders. To him - a man of great charm - strangers were wonderful.

The last "sorry"

- Your parents died almost one after another.

Yes, dad passed away ten months after mom. During her lifetime, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. At the age of 75, he got out after a massive heart attack only for the sake of his mother, so as not to leave her alone. They sprouted into each other, and everything else, no matter who says what, does not matter. Dad died at Roland and me at home. Last days he spent, surrounded by love, attention and compassion. The father felt that he was leaving, and shortly before his death he said: “I don’t want to live anymore.” - "Daddy, have pity on me, it's impossible for you and your mother to leave one by one." “I would be glad, but it won’t work,” he replied.

- He often came to the grave of his wife?

We cremated my mother, and, realizing that my father was seriously ill, I was playing for time with the burial of the urn with the ashes. She was kept at my house. I read that the Japanese always keep the ashes of their relatives at home. In a word, when dad died, I buried them together. They rest on Novodevichy cemetery. Nearby is the grave of Roland. By the way, it was Bykov who achieved a place in the cemetery for dad, although his father said that he would be fine on Vagankovsky as well.

Vsevolod Sanaev was born on the outskirts of Tula, back in imperial Russia, in a large working family. It is known that his parents introduced him to the theater at a young age.

Realizing that somewhere near the simple working days there is real magic, a little boy pulled there. However, he did not dare to think about trying himself as an actor himself: the grown-up children in the Sanaev family, and there were 12 kids in total, had to quickly master working specialties and quickly begin to help their parents feed themselves.

So did Vsevolod. While still a schoolboy, he became an apprentice to his father, who worked in a factory where accordions were made. The boy collected and tuned instruments, and at 16 he himself became a master. However, the teenager dreamed of something completely different.

First bells

Remembering the atmosphere of the theater that he felt in childhood, he decided to try himself on the stage. First he came as a listener to the Tula theater "Hammer and Sickle", then he began to play himself.

Believing in himself, the boy was set on fire with the idea of ​​entering the theater, but his parents, accustomed to hard labor, took the child’s ideas with hostility and even quarreled with him when he was going to the capital. However, he left anyway.

Sanaev entered the theater department of the workers' faculty in Moscow, then there was a theater technical school, half-starving life and constant part-time jobs in order to somehow make ends meet. But the young man strictly followed the path chosen once. After the technical school, he entered GITIS, and only after that he began to appear on the stage at the Moscow City Council Theater.

Lidochka: once and for all

While the novice actor honed his skills, he also had tours. From one such tour - to Kyiv - a young man brought a slender, emotional, spiritualized Lidochka Goncharenko.

It is known that Lydia Antonovna almost ran away from her home: her parents simply did not believe in the seriousness of the relationship with the handsome metropolitan actor, who was going to take their gullible amorous daughter so far. In order to leave with her beloved, Lida left the philological faculty and said goodbye to her parents. Both of them even then seemed to know that they would live in happiness all their lives, although it would be hard for them to get it.

denunciation

The first test was life in a communal apartment. At first, a young couple in love did not lose heart: there is a roof over their heads and crazy devoted love, a baby was born - Alexei, there is a piece of bread, and okay. But the anecdote recklessly told by Lydia in the common kitchen played a cruel joke on her: a young cheerful neighbor, and even snatched off a handsome actor, was envied by many. Someone reported "where to go."

After the denunciation, the actor's wife was subjected to real interrogations. Impressed by what happened, she could not come to her senses for a long time, began to carefully monitor what she was saying, became withdrawn, was depressed, became depressed and acquired a persecution mania, which would later be officially placed in a psychiatric hospital.

Trial by war and death

The serious illness of his wife also knocked down Vsevolod Vasilyevich. Now he had a double responsibility: Lidochka needed care, food, and this needed money. He changed several theaters, but everything was not the same, and then for the first time he discovered cinema for himself. The wife managed to help, but depressive states and outbursts of emotions will haunt her for the rest of her life.

After the improvements, even more difficult times came: the war began. After her announcement, Sanaev ended up on tour, and his wife and son were evacuated. The child was seriously ill there. Alyosha was dying in the arms of his mother, distraught with grief, for several days, and she understood that she could not help him in any way.

Lenochka

When the couple reunited, grief brought them closer together. According to the testimonies of relatives, it was hard for a family that had lost their son to be together, and even worse apart. The Sanaevs faithfully followed the oath of allegiance, being together in sorrow and in joy. Their prayers were answered.

Some time later, Lydia Antonovna became pregnant again. The daughter who is born will famous actress- Elena Sanaeva. However, as a child, she caused trouble for her mother: at a young age, Lena suffered jaundice. For the mother, this was another test: having just lost a child, she thought with horror that the same thing could happen to Lenochka.

Blow after blow, fate destroyed the subtle psyche of an already anxious and impressionable woman by nature. Their daughter in candid interview one day he will tell that his father did not want to come home: it was hard to be with Lydia, and once he admitted that on tour he often said to fans who were looking for his attention that he loved and was devoted to his wife and daughter.

How are they without each other?

Elena Vsevolodovna in her interview said that by the age of 75 her father's health had deteriorated greatly. However, he survived a heart attack, as he later admitted, so as not to leave Lida alone. How is she without him?

Lidia Antonovna died in 1995, when Vsevolod Vasilyevich had already been diagnosed with lung cancer. The body of the actor's wife was cremated, and the ashes were at home. Elena Sanaeva later admits that she was deliberately in no hurry with her mother's funeral and wanted her to stay at home - so that dad would not rush after her to the next world. She will tell you that there was a special connection between the parents: “They grew into each other,” Elena Vsevolodovna will say.

However, Sanaev survived only ten months without his wife. He died at home, in his bed. His daughter and son-in-law Rolan Bykov were with him. A few days before his death, Vsevolod Vasilievich admitted that he did not want to live.

The famous Sanaev couple was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, in one grave.

What does it look like the world in the eyes of a boy who has become the subject of family strife? The child experiences loneliness, pain, and sometimes guilt. All this lays down as a heavy stone on his soul and does not leave without a trace. Such was the childhood of the director, actor and screenwriter Pavel Sanaev. In his first work of fiction, he left feedback on the experience. “Bury me behind the plinth” is not a memoir or memoir, but an attempt to forgive loved ones for the pain they caused him out of love and weakness, selfishness and selflessness.

background

Pavel Sanaev - successor acting dynasty. In the sixth grade, he played one of the main roles in the film Scarecrow by his stepfather Rolan Bykov. The film was dedicated to the difficult relationships among adolescents. In this picture, Pavel's mother played the role of a school teacher. For a novice actor, participation in the filming of the film by Rolan Bykov was not only the beginning creative way but also familiarity with the environment social world. Before the first appearance on film set Pavel experienced a sharp point in the fact that the boy in the first years of his life was protected not only from communication with his peers, but even from the motherly love he needed.

How did the book come about

In high school, Pavel began to create some literary sketches. He supplemented and corrected what he had written, and only eight years later a full-fledged work of art was completed, which was called “Bury Me Behind the Plinth”.

Reviews of the book were both positive and negative. Some believed that Sanaev's story was an entertaining work, not without black humor. Others saw in colorful and very unpleasant images the author's desire to take revenge on his relatives for the wrongs he had caused. Still others felt sorry for the boy who found himself in such unbearable conditions with all their hearts.

Despite the fact that the book depicts the parents of Elena Sanaeva, that is, the grandparents of the author of the sensational book, it should be remembered that the story “Bury me behind the plinth” is not a documentary, but a work of art. Reviews about the book, as about the writer's desire to denigrate his relatives, can hardly be called objective. The writer changed the names of close people. The main character's name is Sasha Savelyev. Mother - Olga. The stepfather has no name at all. Grandmother and grandfather call him none other than a bloodsucker dwarf.

The image of a grandmother

Sanaev wrote a book based on his own experience. The image of the main character - an eccentric and unbalanced grandmother - is taken from life, but supplemented with elements of fiction. This woman terrorizes eight-year-old Sasha with her love and boundless care, and he finally comes to the conclusion that death will overtake him soon, and therefore he suddenly had the idea that it is necessary to leave a small but clear will, in which the only requirement will be “Bury me behind the plinth."

Vsevolod and Lydia Sanaev did not leave reviews of the book written by their grandson, because they passed away before it was published. The work of fiction ends with the death of the grandmother. In real life, Lydia Sanaeva passed away a few years before her grandson's book was published. The author himself once admitted that he would never have been able to publish his story during her lifetime.

Lydia Sanaeva

The story begins with the chapter "Bathing". The reader already from the first lines understands that the book is not dedicated to a kind and affectionate grandmother. Although she does not deprive her grandson of care at all. Throughout the story, the grandmother prophesies many troubles to her grandson, wants to "rot in prison" and predicts a quick painful death. A woman pronounces curses and curses without looking up from her duty. She prepares a dietary breakfast for Sasha, suits him with difficult bath procedures, stuffs pills. In general, she does everything so that the boy does not die as early as she would like ...

Both in the book and in the interview, the author of the story claims that in it he did not set out the whole truth about his early years. Grandmother actually chose words that were much harsher. But there is no point in providing such unsightly details. After all, the book is not about madness, but about love, which kills, maims, inflicts an indelible spiritual wound.

Grandmother daily reminds her grandson that he has very little time left to live. Even though she loved him dearly. Regular talk about illness and death cannot but affect the perception of the world around us. Sasha, despite his young age, began to think about death as something quite ordinary. And, of course, it does not occur to him that the behavior of loved one in his life is somewhat different from the standard inherent in a mentally healthy person.

Criticism

In the late nineties, Pavel Sanaev managed to publish his work in one of the literary magazines. Only in 2003 did the story “Bury me behind the plinth” appear in a separate edition. Reviews of the book were varied. There is humor and sadness in childhood memories. They can like, and are able to get annoyed. But the fact that the book was created by a talented person can hardly be doubted.

Movie

In 2009, the story "Bury me behind the plinth" was filmed. Reviews of the film Sanaev left extremely negative. The author of the cult book did not like the film, first of all, because the actress, who played the main female role, did not cope with the task. This is undoubtedly the fault of the director. Svetlana Kryuchkova - an outstanding Soviet and Russian actress- played a grandmother on one note. Every person who read the work could not but admit that the created screen image has little to do with literature. The actress herself in an interview said that many important episodes were cut at the insistence of the film producer.

The role of Lydia Sanaeva was originally planned to take her daughter. But after the author of the story and the script refused to work, everything changed. Another actress was invited to the main role. Subsequently, Elena Sanaeva admitted that it would be unbearably hard for her to play her own mother.

Vsevolod Sanaev

Sasha Savelyev's grandfather is a gentle man who is inferior to his wife in everything. Its prototype is Vsevolod Sanaev - Soviet actor, known for the films "Moscow Behind Us", "The Return of St. Luke", "Forgotten Melody for Flute" and others.

Sasha's mother's father plays an important role in the story Bury Me Behind the Baseboard. Reviews of the film by Pavel Sanaev are somewhat different from the opinions of viewers and film critics regarding the book of the same name. Anyone who read Sanaev's autobiographical story, as a rule, disapproves of the picture of Sergei Snezhkin. But the grandfather of the main character in the film was played by the outstanding actor Alexei Petrenko. And the image that he created on the screen, perhaps, is not inferior to the literary one.

It was with the help of this character that the writer was able to show the scope of the grandmother's tyranny and madness. Most of the work is devoted to depicting the relationship and life in the house where Sasha lives. And if the boy cannot prevent explosions of aggression and inappropriate behavior of his grandmother due to his age, then her husband is theoretically capable of this. But he keeps silent more and more, fawns before her, resignedly fulfills all her demands. And only once, he explodes, leaves the house. To return a few hours later. He is not able to overcome domestic tyranny. The mother of the protagonist does not have enough strength and perseverance for this.

While reading the story, the grandmother, despite all her oddities, causes pity. Its tragedy lies not only in mental disorder but also in the indifference of her husband, who in his younger years did not pay due attention to his wife. She single-handedly fought for the life of her first child. But the boy died, and a few years later Olga was born - Sasha's mother - a sickly and stubborn girl. Father was more and more absent on tour, on creative business trips. He did not notice how his wife turned into an elderly hysterical woman.

Elena Sanaeva

This actress is the prototype of Olga - Sasha's mother. children Soviet period First of all, she was remembered for her role as Fox Alice in the film, in which she played a fabulous role in a duet with her husband.

The image of Olga is depicted with the help of the boy's inner experiences in the story "Bury me behind the plinth". The book, reviews of critics about which are often devoted to the beautiful artistic style the author, to date has not been adequately filmed.

In the film directed by Sergei Snezhkin, Sasha's mother, for unknown reasons, more resembles a depressed, weak lady who, instead of fighting for her son, drinks cognac with her lover. After that, the couple rushes to dance. The heroine of Svetlana Kryuchkova causes much more trust. Even despite her hysterical cries and peculiar curse. she shows, albeit rather idiosyncratic, care for the boy.

What does Pavel Sanaev himself think about the film? "Bury me behind the plinth", reviews of which are extremely enthusiastic, was criticized by the author of the story. Initially, it was assumed that Sanaev himself would be the director of the film. But at the last moment, the author of the work refused, because he was not sure that he could devote as much effort to creating a picture as was spent on writing a book. The producers had to look for another director. They became Sergey Snezhkin, whose opinion was at odds with the position of the author of the script, not only regarding the cast. Snezhkin significantly changed the plot as well.

Wonderful actors are involved in the film according to Sanaev's script. But even their talented game could not save the picture, which the author of the story called "dark". The film contains naturalistic details, which, according to critics, are superfluous. And most importantly, the main idea of ​​Pavel Sanaev has not been observed. The image of the grandmother in the film is too unambiguous.

What do the performers of the main roles in the film “Bury Me Behind the Plinth” think about the film adaptation of Sanaev’s work? Reviews of the film actors are varied. performer leading role claims that her image was significantly changed as a result of editing. who played Sasha's mother, did not share her impressions of the filming of the film. However most of viewers believe that the choice of the director in favor of this actress was not the most successful.

bloodsucker dwarf

This character is almost not present in the book, but is, nevertheless, central. It was because of the bloodsucker dwarf that the mother abandoned her son. And it is because of him that the sick old woman is forced to nurse the sickly "rotting" boy. At least in this early years the tyrant grandmother convinces her grandson. But Sasha had already seen this terrible dwarf once, and did not find anything repulsive in him.

Pavel Sanaev dedicated the story "Bury me behind the plinth" to his stepfather, director and actor. Reviews of critics about this work sometimes, perhaps, were not favorable. It does not befit a person from a family of celebrities to wash dirty linen in public. But the image of the stepfather, which later turned out to be by no means creepy, was portrayed by the author with deep respect and love. Sanaev described him as wise, talented and understanding in his first story. In the same way, the writer portrayed his stepfather in a work of art about the misadventures of Gouging. The book "Bury me behind the plinth - 2", reviews of which were not so stormy, nevertheless took its rightful place in modern literature.

Pavel Sanaev's book Bury Me Behind the Baseboard"made a sensation among the reading public. The prototype of the main character was Pavel's grandmother, the wife of the artist Vsevolod Sanaev. “She loved us, but she loved us with such tyrannical fury that her love turned into a weapon mass destruction”, Pavel recalls in an interview ...

The limit of tyranny was put by Rolan Bykov, the second husband of Elena Sanaeva. Only he had the strength of character to resist the imperious mother-in-law. Recently, a film based on a book was released, where Svetlana Kryuchkova played the grandmother.

And a new edition of Plinth came out of print, supplemented by three previously unpublished chapters. We met with Pavel to separate truth from fiction.

Pavel Sanaev

Pavel Sanaev spent from 4 to 11 years old in the house of his mother's parents. Elena Sanaeva worked hard, went to the shooting. And once I met Rolan Bykov. It was love at first sight. And from the very first joint day, Rolan Antonovich insisted that Pavel live with his mother.

Grandmother strongly objected. Daughter's romance with Bykov Sanaev did not like at all. “Rolan Antonovich had the nickname “king of the goers”. There were legends about his adventures and ability to easily part with women, ”recalls Pavel. - I called my grandmother ex-wife Bykova, Lydia Knyazeva. In the film "Aibolit-66" Knyazeva played the Chi-Chi monkey when Rolan and Elena were already together.

"Roland will ruin your daughter's life," she warned. However, the gloomy forecast did not come true. Not only did Bykov become a good husband, he reconciled the family and helped parents gain understanding with their daughter.

Pavel Sanaev with his mother and stepfather. Photo from the archive of Pavel Sanaev.

Started writing in 8th grade

- What are these three new chapters?

I started writing my first stories very early - in the 8th or 9th grade. Some turned out to be successful, and then became chapters of the book, such as "Cement" or "Bathing". And some didn't work at all. These three chapters did not work, they remained on the table, and I did not include them in the book. And today I rewrote it again and included it in the deluxe edition.

These texts are united by one theme, which was left behind the scenes in the book. After all, the main characters are grandmother, mother, grandfather, and the boy is a passive observer. Learns lessons, gets sick. And in these three chapters it turns out that he was still a bandit. All the time something masters and invents.

- Builds a rocket out of cast-iron tubs.

And he makes two gas masks, dreaming that someday gas will break through at their house. And if it doesn't break through, then maybe he will open it himself. And grandmother will be writhing in the kitchen from suffocation, and he will come up to her in a gas mask, look at her with wise eyes from under gas mask glasses, give her a second gas mask, she will put it on, come to her senses, the gas will dissipate ... And grandmother will finally praise him . It turns out that I had such an interesting life as a child!

Bykov did not urinate on his grandfather's car!

- Elena Vsevolodovna Sanaeva was supposed to play a grandmother in the film adaptation of the book. And you had to shoot. Why didn't it work?

On the one hand, such a role is a gift for any actress. Mom really wanted to play this role. On the other hand, this is her own mother, a mentally ill person. There is some panopticon in the fact that the daughter will play her sick mother. Rolan Antonovich (Bykov) had such a case. When he was filming The Nose, he came up with such a frame with a monument to Peter I: a rearing horse in the pouring rain.

Elena Sanaeva

They brought watering machines, poured out a lot of water, night - unearthly beauty in the hole of the lens. They turned off the shift, let the cars go, the operator came up to him and, almost crying, said: “Roland, I'm sorry, but my diaphragm was closed.” Well, that means Gogol doesn't want this, Rolan Antonovich decided. Here is the same situation. I didn't need to film it, and my mother played it.

- But you both did not like the film by Sergei Snezhkin.

What upset me most of all: the film, which is a thousand steps away from the book, some began to perceive as real life, and say: well, you see how Sanaev lived: Bykov urinated on his car. It is unpleasant. Even more unpleasant are hasty conclusions.

One journalist, without specifying the information, decided that it was my script. And she wrote, they say, “Sanaev walked through his star family, portrayed everyone as monsters, and was not even ashamed to portray Rolan Bykov, who raised him as a monster. If she had asked, she would have known that the script was written on the basis of my book by Sergei Snezhkin. It was written absolutely without my participation.

Vsevolod Sanaev

And in the book, a character in which Bykov can be guessed is just trying to normalize this family. And in the end, everything is getting better thanks to him! In the film, all the plus signs are changed to minus... There is no understanding of images at all, for example, in the very first scene, when the grandmother sees a mouse nailed with a mousetrap and starts to fire the grandfather.

The “book” grandmother sincerely breaks her heart from pity for the little mouse. And then we understand that her child is a “bastard”, because she is afraid of losing him. The boy slipped, and she is terrified that he will break something. And in the film, the grandmother is only looking for an excuse to peck out the brains of her loved ones. There would be a reason, but we'll peck out the brain. And the whole picture is made in this key.

But there is, perhaps, an advantage. The grandmother, played by Svetlana Kryuchkova, has the right to exist. After all, there are such people.

Svetlana Kryuchkova played a completely different grandmother.

- And I kept waiting for the boy to be slapped somewhere by the grandmother or he would freeze ...

From the director it would be necessary to apply such a move. The site plintusbook.ru has my script. Initially, the project was launched according to this scenario and in my production. But then a delicate situation arose. There is a mechanism for launching a film through Goskino.

A script is submitted, a year passes, and then the launch is announced. I was working on Kilometer Zero when they called from the studio: “Pavel, you have the script for Plinth. Come on, we'll get you going. I thought: how great, now I’ll finish with one picture, and then immediately another ... I hurried up and agreed.

Elena Sanaeva in the movie "The Adventures of Pinocchio"

Further work on the "Kilometer Zero" dragged on for six months. Then the project "On the Game" arose. And I realized that I was terribly uninteresting in making a film adaptation of Plinth. I won’t be able to “with a twinkle” tell a second time what I already said once. Also, I've made two films and I want to go ahead technically too, and not just shoot two actors in an apartment.

I turned down the film adaptation, left the script to the studio, and was glad when they invited Snezhkin. I hoped that he would shoot what is written in the book, and not settle his own scores with Soviet power and release under the name "Plintus" chernukha.

Until the age of 11, Pavel rarely saw his mother ...

I told my mother the book

- Pavel, why didn't you show the book to your grandfather?

He would simply not understand the difference between a book and life. He would say: “How?! I couldn't drop the reflector in the tub!" He would take everything at face value and be offended.

- And not everything is a clean coin?

Fiction is 60 percent. Grandmother did not utter shrill monologues under the door and did not die when they took me away. And there really wasn't much. I told some stories from my life with my grandmother to my mother when they had already taken me with Roland. For example, just about swimming. He told her to make her laugh. And, of course, thought out something to make it funnier. And then I tried to write it down.

Vsevolod Sanaev with his grandson

I wrote and saw the effect: everyone laughs, everyone is curious. I started writing more. In addition, after talking with my grandmother in more adulthood, I learned from her about the war, about the fact that she had lost her first child. I began to understand that she was not just a mentally ill tyrant, but a person broken by circumstances.

Lidia Antonovna Sanaeva lived tragic life. A powerful, active nature, she devoted herself entirely to the family, but she never received a profession. In an interview with one of the magazines, Pavel admitted that his grandmother may have been intellectually superior to his grandfather. “I’m learning the role with Seva, he can’t even connect two words, and I already learned everything by heart!” she told friends. In the evacuation, in Alma-Ata, Lidia Antonovna lost her one-year-old son. Daughter Lenochka was born after the tragedy. And at the age of five she caught infectious jaundice: she found a piece of sugar in the yard.

Elena Sanaeva

The girl was treated by the best homeopaths. One day Lydia told a political anecdote in the communal kitchen. A few days later, some people came with questions about her. Lidia Antonovna was terribly frightened. She developed persecution mania. She destroyed the gifts brought by her husband from abroad. She broke a bottle of perfume, cut her fur coat. Even on the bus, she imagined being followed.

Vsevolod Vasilyevich had to put his wife in the clinic. She was treated with insulin shock. This is when a person
he is injected with a high dose of insulin and falls into an artificial coma. Unfortunately, more humane methods were not used in Soviet clinics.

How Bykov reconciled Sanaeva with his mother

- How was your grandmother's fate? Her character in the book dies. And Lidia Antonovna lived a long life.

In the story, the thread connecting the grandmother and grandson broke. In reality, this thread has stretched. My grandmother could no longer take me back, I lived with my mother, it was decided. But she could meet me near the school, take me home and tell me on the way what a scoundrel and traitor I am. Then she weakened and for the last 7-8 years of her life she simply cried from morning to night. But it is very important that in last years she reconciled with both her mother and Rolan Antonovich.

Rolan Bykov and Elena Sanayeva are one of the most beautiful couples in Soviet cinema. Photo from the archive of Pavel Sanaev.

When my grandmother began to have pulmonary edema, the ambulance doctors were confused. Rolan Bykov ordered them to take his mother-in-law to intensive care. In the hospital, she lived for another three months and allowed her daughter to take care of herself. “Their painful relationship was redeemed by the love that my mother gave to my grandmother,” recalls Pavel.

A healthy grandmother would never let anyone take care of her. After the death of Lydia Antonovna, Vsevolod Vasilievich survived his wife not much. First he went on a cruise along the Volga, and his daughter made repairs in his apartment. But when he returned, he became melancholy and died a few months later.

"It turns out you're not an idiot!"

Elena Sanaeva and Rolan Bykov were made for each other. He was 43, she was 29. Love helped them overcome not only the age difference, but also all the slander of "well-wishers". “For me, there was no woman in nature. God specially invented you and sent you to me, ”Rolan Antonovich said to Elena. “I am sure,” Pavel recalled, “that without Rolan Bykov’s mother, the fate of many actors who burned out in the fire of their own temperament awaited. Vysotsky, Dal ... Rolan Bykov could well continue this sad list.

- Pavel, as a child, your grandmother "twisted" you against Bykov. Seeing him in person, you recognized him as a "cool guy". How did he like himself in the book?

Rolan Bykov in the film "Two Comrades Were Serving"

He did not perceive the book as a description of himself, his mother, or his real grandmother. He took it as literature. I remember his reaction to what he read. He was truly shocked. After all, he read only the first chapters, and I didn’t show him the whole thing until I put the final point.

Very often, parents support their children. But it's not always 100% sincere. Like "son, you did a very good job." But you don’t know for sure whether you are really well done or if your relatives just praise you, and then you will encounter the real world and you'll get punched in the face... I knew that Roland would never praise just like that, so his sincere shock was the highest mark for me.

- How did it all start?

We used to write essays in school. The teachers said all sorts of correct phrases that our party is building a socialist society that will be advanced, and so on. I wrote an essay on the theme “One day of our Motherland” - “prosperity ... in a single impulse ... advanced power ... all efforts are united ...” and all that. This essay remained on the table in a notebook, already beautifully transcribed from a draft.

Elena Sanaeva and Rolan Bykov in the film "The Adventures of Pinocchio"

Rolan Antonovich read it, was horrified and said that either I'm an idiot or a victim educational system. He said, “I have to figure it out for myself. That's why I'm asking you. Here is a turtle made of shells, write about it whatever you see fit. I hesitated, but he said: “As a person involved in the psychology of childhood, I need your help, Pasha. Please, write!” And at that moment I had a task - to win the respect of Rolan Antonovich.

I didn't play sports, couldn't bring home gold medal. The planes that I glued were a worthy occupation until the age of 13, and I was already 16. And I decided to use this turtle as a chance - I wrote a humorous sketch. Rolan Antonovich read: “But this is another matter, it's great! You're not an idiot, it turns out." We had a portrait of Meyerhold hanging on the wall: let's talk about him now.

I wrote, he says: well, that's even better. And after two or three such compositions, I thought: well, now we need to try something more serious. And in the mood he wrote the first story "Bathing". From this it went, thanks to Rolan Antonovich.

- Was he a strict stepfather? Cursed, punished?

Didn't scold, no. But Rolan Antonovich simply sawed me for idleness, and that was more than enough. He was a very powerful person. Not authoritarian, but authoritative. If I came home late, he sat me down and explained that I was losing my starting positions in life, that I was wasting time in vain, and so on - I sighed, lowered my eyes, understood: something had to be done with it, somehow it was necessary to please him, so as not to saw ...

When I wrote the story and realized that it aroused his approval, a month later I thought: I still need to write, so that I can calmly take a walk later!

“My wife is also younger than me!”

- Are you going to have your own children?

I want three. This is our mutual desire with my wife. We'll wait a bit for her to finish her studies, and I think we'll get started.

- Is she much younger than you?

I don't see any difference at all. She is an amazingly wise person, and it is a great pleasure for me to communicate with her. And consult. Even if I know in advance what to do, I still sometimes consult, just to once again enjoy her wisdom.

Pavel Sanaev with his mother

Sanaev had only one wife... But what a wife!

In our time, the grandson of the actor Pavel Sanaev took out the rubbish from the hut, telling in the story “Bury me behind the plinth” the story of the difficult relationship between the Sanaevs senior and her daughter Elena and her chosen one Rolan Bykov.

The image of a grandmother who can “love to death” came out very colorful.

How were things in reality?

That's what we'll talk about.

Vsevolod Sanaev wanted to work at the Moscow Art Theater. His dream came true, albeit not in the form in which he was avenged.

After graduating from GITIS, the guy was accepted into the troupe of the famous theater, where the luminaries firmly held the defense, preventing the young from playing.

In 1938, Sanaev made his film debut, and in two roles at once, and even in the hit "Volga-Volga", but the roles turned out to be so small that the viewer did not remember. Sanaev's work in Pyryev's film "Beloved Girl" was more successful, after which the actor began to be recognized.

"GIRLFRIEND"

On tour in Kyiv, Vsevolod met a student of the philological faculty Lidia Goncharenko and fell in love. For a whole month he tried to persuade her to get married. As a result, Lida agreed, although all relatives opposed marriage with the actor.

The peaceful course of life was disturbed by the war. At the very beginning, Sanaev was called to shoot in Borisoglebsk, and while he was there, Moscow, as a front-line city, was closed. Languishing in Borisoglebsk, Sanaev did not know that Lydia and her young son had been evacuated to Alma-Ata.

In Alma-Ata, the boy fell ill and died, which became for Lydia psychological trauma from which she never recovered.

When Elena was born a year later, all the complex maternal love fell upon her.

Elena Sanaeva says:

“Having lost her son, she was afraid to lose both my dad and me, and this endless fear drove her into the stress in which she lived. It sometimes manifested itself in her in a peculiar way: in childhood, when I fell, she could also kick: “How did you fall?! Why did you go there?!"

The second incident that turned Lidia Sanaeva's life into hell happened in the early 1950s. A woman told a political anecdote in the communal kitchen, about which someone knocked on the right place. After talking to people in civilian clothes, Lydia destroyed all the valuables. She cut her fur coat, broke a bottle of perfume. She had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital, diagnosed with persecution mania, where the unfortunate woman was treated with insulin shock to her heart's content.

These events forced Vsevolod Sanaev to finally leave the Moscow Art Theater (where he had already left, but returned again).

Here's what my daughter has to say about it:

“The director of the theater at that time was the famous Alla Konstantinovna Tarasova, with whom we lived in the same house. Once they were returning home together, and her father decided to consult with her: “Alla Konstantinovna, I decided to leave the theater.” - “What happened, Sevochka? she asked. “Everyone treats you so well.” “You see,” he complained, “my wife is sick, I work alone, I live in a communal apartment (Tarasova herself had a four-room apartment), and I don’t have roles for which it would be worth closing my eyes to all this.” And she, after thinking, answered: “Unfortunately, Sevochka, you are probably right: as long as the Moscow Art Theater luminaries are alive, they will not let you play anything.”

This departure had a beneficial effect on Sanaev's film career. He began to shoot a lot, with high quality, and soon made his way into the first faces of our screen.

AS COLONEL ZORIN

Meanwhile, Sanaev's daughter grew up, who also decided to become an actress. From her first marriage, she gave birth to a son, Pavel, who for 11 years became a light in the window for her grandmother.

After her daughter's divorce, Lydia insisted that the child would not communicate with her father. Elena could not argue with her mother and invited her husband to meet with her son in secret. He refused such handouts.

And then Elena Sanaeva on the set of the film "Docker" met Rolan Bykov, whom older generation The Sanaevs were not accepted categorically.

Pavel Sanaev recalls:

“Screaming, cursing and manipulating guilt were my grandmother's main weapons. She loved us, but with such tyrannical fury that her love turned into a weapon of mass destruction. No one could resist the grandmother. The meeting with Rolan Bykov was a chance for my mother to change the balance of power in her favor. When my mother got out of control of my grandmother, she could not forgive Roland for this.

Bykov was ranked among the enemies of the family for a very long time. There were many rumors about him, which, of course, were inflated in every possible way in our house. "The devil has contacted the baby!" - the grandfather repeated pathetically, convinced that Roland not only "does not mount" with his mother, but also "spoils her and throws her out." Grandmother also kept saying that she was saving me, the patient, giving her last strength, and my mother, instead of helping her, “travels” with Roland to the shooting.

Mom was allowed to visit me only a couple of times a month, and each of our meetings, which I looked forward to, ended in a terrible quarrel. My mother couldn't take me with her. It was as unthinkable as, for example, to come and ask something from Stalin ... Only once, when I was eight years old, my mother and I ran away. It happened suddenly. Mom, seizing the moment when my grandmother went to the store, and my grandfather was somewhere on the set, took me to her place.

From 4 to 11 years old, Pavel was brought up apart from his mother. But gradually, somehow, everything settled down.

When Lydia died in 1995, Vsevolod, who suffered a lot from her character, quickly burned out. He said to his daughter: “Lel, let her not say anything at all, just sit in a corner on the bed, if only she was alive”

Vsevolod left after his wife at the moment when his unloved son-in-law Rolan Bykov measured his blood pressure.