consciousness that is common in classic Soviet films. The films ends with Victor leaving his family for his job immediately after Vera's attempted suicide, and Kolya passing away under a heart attack on the kitchen floor. Production Little Vera is directed by Vasily Pichul, who was then 28-year-old, and written by his wife, Maria Khmelik. The movie is filmed in the port city of Zhdanov (now Mariupol), where Pichul was born and raised. Using the brackish water of the port as his primary motif, Pitchul shot the picture in a ragged, off-the-cuff style, adding images of the polluted waterfront and rusting machinery. Many elements in the filming of Little Vera is said to mirror America's own period of social opening-up in the 1950s. Reception It was advertised as the first Soviet film to honestly explore the youth rebellion and discontent with the system. The film frankly takes side with the youth against the authority, depicting the police as repressive and uncaring of the fate of the people. Vera's sarcastic line before her lovemaking with Sergei: "In our country, we have but one goal: communism." reportedly became famous in the USSR after the release of film in 1989. The film was a profound innovation in its portrayal of typical Soviet family life. Negoda became the first Soviet actress to appear naked in an explicit sex scene. Negoda also posed nude for Playboy with the headline "From Russia, With Love" to help the film launch in America. As the Soviet Union's first sex symbol, Negoda is said to have received so many obscene letters after the release of the film that she told the New York Times in March 1989 that she didn't even open letters anymore. The film was able to attract more than 50 million Soviet movie-goers, largely thanks to its unprecedented sex scenes. Influence Little Vera is one of the breakthrough movies of the glasnost era. Tearing down the facade of socialist realism, the film portrays honestly a provincial Russian family supported by an alcoholic father, their meaningless works, and the aimless youth around them. This portrayal is credited with being representative of the Soviet population at the time, as Natalya Negoda said in an interview, "If the movie weren't so true, it wouldn't be so popular." References External links Review, New York Times 1988 films 1980s Russian-language films Gorky Film Studio films 1988 in the Soviet Union Films