Faina Ranevskaya: The Love of a Lonely Mocker

“Fanyuchka isn’t a beauty, and besides she stammers. Poor little girl”—that was what her father said in her childhood about the future actress, who later the English encyclopedia would place among the ten most outstanding servants of Melpomene in the 20th century. Before that there will be all-Union fame, and love of millions, and lines that went on to become famous quotes— and… astonishing loneliness. “Loneliness is when there’s a telephone in the house, but it’s the alarm clock that rings.” Young admirers appear in her life, but Faina remains indifferent to them. The person who becomes truly close to her is the actress Pavel Vulf. “Lesbianism, homosexuality, masochism, and sadism—these aren’t perversions. There are, in fact, only two perversions: field hockey and ballet on ice.”

Her fame grows, but the joys in her fate do not increase. Her sharpness and causticness repel many. From the outside, she seems unaccommodating, sometimes even scandalous, but few people guess that behind this “bitterness” there hides a delicate, vulnerable, desperately needing love soul. “When I die, bury me and write on the monument, ‘Died of disgust’…” About Faina Ranevskaya you can listen endlessly: it will be painfully sad, or laugh-out-loud funny—yet never boring. Because “growing old is dull, but it’s the only way to live a long time.”