July Rain

July Rain (Russian: Июльский дождь, romanized: Iyulskiy dozhd) is a 1967 Soviet drama film directed by Marlen Khutsiev.

The couple navigates shared experiences, such as a modern-style party and a countryside picnic, where discussions of betrayal and ambition deepen their reflections.

The film closes on a bittersweet note with a reunion of war veterans outside the Bolshoi Theatre, offering a brief glimpse of joy amid the changes in their lives.

Just like Khutsiev's previous film, I am Twenty, July Rain is heavily inspired by the French New Wave, with its combination of realism, subjectivity, discontinuous editing and long takes.

The film can be seen as a declaration of love to Moscow and its younger generation, and was possibly Khutsiev's angry response to the heavy criticism he encountered from Nikita Khrushchev for I am Twenty and its portrayal of Soviet youth worrying about money and jobs and listening to Western music.