What Is About Love About?
The premise of About Love in 314 words, with nothing given away. The full story follows below.
Moscow provides the backdrop for this sprawling, offbeat mosaic of love, unfolding around an open lecture at the Strelka. The lecturer invites listeners to consider attraction through the unlikely lens of biology, poetry, and music, turning a night of ideas into an intimate experiment in which the audience itself becomes part of the conversation. Her framing gives the film a playful, intellectually restless mood: serious questions about desire and devotion are surrounded by wit, awkwardness, romance, and the peculiar energy of a city assembled from many different lives.
Parallel stories follow people whose routes to intimacy are as varied as their circumstances. Himea and Taito share a devotion to Japanese anime and a connection that has so far existed through images rather than ordinary face-to-face familiarity. Liza, an office manager, finds her professional life unsettled by the attention of her employer while her relationship with Grisha is strained by his unemployment and long hours online. At a festival of Russian culture, Miyako, a Japanese visitor with a clear idea of the partner she wants to meet, navigates the romantic expectations and cultural distances of Moscow. Boris, a public figure and graffiti artist, uses the city’s walls to explore his attraction to women, while his private life adds another layer to his creative persona. Around them, a lonely police officer and other chance participants drift toward the same charged atmosphere.
The lecturer’s own history adds a final layer of uncertainty, as her academic performance sits alongside complicated feelings about an ex and the possibility of new intimacy. Rather than offering a single tidy definition of love, the film lets its characters test different versions of it—online, professional, cultural, physical, creative, and unconventional. The result is a provocative, humane city comedy with a dreamlike rhythm, where every introduction raises a question and every connection carries the promise of something stranger, warmer, or more difficult than expected.
What Happens in About Love?
The complete story of About Love, from the first scene to the last, in 401 words (about 2 minutes). Spoilers throughout. Names in the text link to 6 cast member pages.
Spoilers ahead
At the “Strelka” center, a female lecturer, played by Renata Litvinova, delivers an open lecture “About love,” blending biological science with the romanticism of poetry and music. As the audience participates in various experiments, several intersecting stories of love and longing unfold.
One plot follows a police raid on an anime club. Among those detained are Himea and Taito, a couple who have dated for six months but have only ever interacted through digital avatars. Their attempt at a traditional date fails miserably; they only find common ground and a successful connection once they dress as anime characters. Witnessing this, a lonely police officer, played by Ravshana Kurkova, decides to pursue a similar path to find companionship.
Meanwhile, a businessman, portrayed by Vladimir Mashkov, dismisses his entire staff due to an economic crisis. He makes a predatory offer to his office manager, Yuliya Snigir as Liza: she can keep her job in exchange for sex. This proposal creates a rift between Liza and her boyfriend Grisha, played by Aleksey Filimonov, who has been unemployed and gaming for months. In a twist of timing, Liza accepts the businessman’s offer just before Grisha intends to propose to her.
In another thread, Miyako, a Japanese woman visiting a Russian culture festival, seeks a Russian husband via a dating site. After a disappointing encounter with a married man, she finds genuine connection with a fellow Japanese participant from her hometown. After a night of discussing the Russian soul and singing “Gop-Stop” to a guitar, the two fall in love.
Then there is Yevgeni Tsyganov as Boris, a public figure who advocates for removing city monuments while secretly acting as a graffiti artist. He paints the women he loves on city walls. When his wife discovers this hobby via Instagram, she attempts to destroy one of his murals, only to meet the woman in the painting. Instead of fighting, the two women spend a night together and eventually decide to form a throuple with Boris.
The narrative circles back to the lecturer. She arranges a sexual encounter with her ex-boyfriend, who reveals he is engaged but believes his fiancée used a voodoo doll to bind him to her. He seeks a paid consultation to remove the “love spell,” but the lecturer refuses to help after taking his money. As she leaves, she crosses paths with Yevgeni Tsyganov as Boris, becoming his latest source of artistic inspiration.
About Love Timeline: Every Key Event in Order
15 key events in the order they happen, from “The open lecture 'About Love' at the Strelka” to “The voodoo spell and a new muse”. 10 events name a place, across 9 locations.
- 1
The open lecture 'About Love' at the Strelka
An audience gathers at the 'Strelka' to listen to an open lecture titled 'About Love.' The female lecturer blends scientific interpretations of the organism's biological processes with reflections on the high feelings about which poems and music are written. The lecture is accompanied by experiences and experiments in which the listeners themselves become participants.
Where:Strelka, Moscow
- 2
Police raid the anime club
Police raid a club where members of the anime movement gather for free communication. Among the detainees are Himea and Taito, who have been in a relationship for six months but have never seen each other without images. The raid forces the couple to finally confront what their romance really is.
Where:Anime club
- 3
Anime personas succeed where tradition fails
After the raid, Himea and Taito decide to date in the traditional sense, but their attempt fails. They form a successful relationship only after dressing as anime characters. A lonely police officer, who has already attracted interest from someone in the club, decides to do the same.
- 4
Mass dismissals amid the economic crisis
A successful businessman calls his employees together and announces that, due to the economic crisis, he is dismissing the entire team. The news leaves the whole office shocked and uncertain about what comes next.
Where:Office
- 5
Liza's indecent proposal
Liza, the office manager, is at a loss because there will soon be nobody left to make coffee for. Her boss, who is attracted to her, offers to keep her employed in exchange for sex. She is left overwhelmed by doubts about the proposal she has received.
Where:Office
- 6
Doubts strain Liza and Grisha's relationship
Liza's agonizing over the businessman's proposal begins to affect her relationship with her boyfriend Grisha. Grisha has already been unemployed for three months and spends all his time on the computer, deepening the rift between them.
- 7
Liza accepts on the eve of a proposal
Liza decides to accept the businessman's offer. What she does not know is that Grisha will propose to her that very evening, making her fateful decision all the more heart-wrenching.
When:That evening
- 8
Miyako arrives at the festival of Russian culture
Representatives of different nations come to Moscow for a festival of Russian culture, among them a Japanese woman named Miyako. One of her main goals is to find a Russian husband. To do this, she uses a dating site to organize several dates, associating each candidate with a musical note.
Where:Moscow
- 9
The matryoshka suitor's deception
The candidate Miyako chooses to invite to her room is the man who gave her a matryoshka. He is revealed to be married with children and simply interested in having sex with as many foreign women as possible. Frustrated, Miyako leaves the encounter betrayed.
Where:Hotel room
- 10
A kindred spirit behind the neighboring door
Frustrated, Miyako knocks at the door of a neighboring room where another festival participant lives — a Japanese guy from her hometown. He turns out to be the only one with whom she can truly discuss the Russian soul and Russian culture. After talking all night and performing the song 'Gop-Stop' on the guitar, they fall in love.
When:Night Where:Neighboring hotel room
Show the other 5 events of About Love Hide the last 5 events
- 11
Boris's wife uncovers his secret graffiti
Boris is a public figure who advocates demolishing the monuments that disfigure the city's face, while secretly working as a graffiti artist who paints the women he falls in love with on its boring walls. His wife discovers the hobby after tracking him down through Instagram.
- 12
Rivals meet under the cover of night
Under the cover of night, Boris's wife tries to destroy one of his graffiti drawings. During the attempt she runs into her rival — the woman whose image has just been destroyed — and the two get acquainted.
When:Night Where:City streets
- 13
A bright night and an unusual household
The wife and the rival spend a bright night in the city, after which they return home together, where their beloved artist sleeps. The three of them decide to live together as an unconventional trio.
Where:Boris's home
- 14
The lecturer's paid consultation with her ex
The heroine of the final story is the lecturer herself. She organizes a sexual encounter with a man who turns out to be her ex, who proposed to his girlfriend the day before but does not wish to get married. He then applies for a paid consultation with her.
- 15
The voodoo spell and a new muse
During the consultation, the ex discovers that his girlfriend used several magic spells, including a voodoo doll, to keep him bound. Asked to remove the love spell, the lecturer refuses and, taking the promised fee, leaves. On the street she meets the artist Boris, for whom she becomes a new object of inspiration.
Where:Street
What Kind of Film Is About Love?
Whimsical in tone, with variable pacing and a complex story, going by the plot summary.
- Tone
- Whimsical
- Pacing
- Variable
- Story
- Complex
- Intensity
- Medium
- Ending
- Mixed
A playful, quirky romantic anthology that treats love as comic, chaotic, and surprisingly tender, balancing bawdy encounters and awkward longing with inventive ensemble endings.
- playful
- quirky
- bittersweet
- romantic
- intimate
- chaotic
- love in all its forms
- interconnected relationships
- loneliness
- communication gaps
Content notes: sexual coercion, workplace sexual harassment.
Quiz
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