Incorrigible Liar 1973

Comedy

Runtime

75 mins

Language

Russian

Directed by

Villen Azarov

Made by

Mosfilm

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Incorrigible Liar Plot Summary

Read the complete plot summary and ending explained for Incorrigible Liar (1973). From turning points to emotional moments, uncover what really happened and why it matters.

Alexei Ivanovich Tyutyurin is a warm-hearted, gentle man who has spent twenty years working as a hairdresser in a bustling salon. When a chance to be promoted to the salon’s manager arises, he faces a problem: in the eyes of his colleagues, he is late and an incorrigible liar. According to his boss, Vasily Vasilievich Mymrikov, Tyutyurin has two drawbacks:

First, he lies, and secondly, he does not know how to lie.

This blunt assessment helps explain why the boss initially refuses to sign his recommendation letter. Yet the truth about Tyutyurin is more nuanced than it appears: he does not intend to deceive anyone; he simply keeps stumbling into a string of unusual, almost fateful, situations on his way to work. He saves a boy by helping him recover a ball from the roadway, only to be drenched by an auto-dispenser and forced to hurry home to change clothes. He then returns a lost gold cigarette case to a foreign prince, who, in gratitude, arranges a dinner in his honor. And in another quirky twist, Tyutyurin ends up under a car, with Edita Piekha sitting behind the wheel.

After yet another delay, Tyutyurin actually begins to craft a fable. He, with the help of his boss, tells a “believable” story about a party with beauties and dances. The chief seems satisfied with this new surface of “corrected behavior” and contemplates signing the character reference letter. But remorse soon gnaws at Tyutyurin, and he confesses the real story—the girl, the ball, and the fountain. Vasily Vasilyevich immediately wonders if Tyutyurin is incorrigible and contemplates drastic measures. At a pivotal moment, the prince’s translator arrives at the beauty salon with a gift for Tyutyurin, and a little later—Edita Piekha arrives with Alexei’s wife, and all misunderstandings are resolved.

Incorrigible Liar Timeline

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Promotion opportunity tainted by a reputation

Tyutyurin has a chance to be promoted to the salon manager, but his coworkers and boss are wary due to his chronic lateness and reputation as a liar. The boss, Vasily Vasilievich Mymrikov, bluntly states Tyutyurin's two flaws: he lies and he doesn't know how to lie. Tyutyurin himself refuses to sign the recommendation letter.

Morning Salon office

Morning misadventures begin

On his way to work, Tyutyurin helps a boy retrieve a ball from the roadway. A street auto-dispenser drenches him with water, forcing him to return home to change clothes. These mishaps set the pattern of his unusual day and foreshadow the upcoming unlikely events.

Morning City streets

A lost cigarette case and a grateful prince

Tyutyurin discovers and returns a lost gold cigarette case to a foreign prince. In gratitude, the prince arranges for a dinner in his honor, recognizing Tyutyurin's kindness. The encounter marks a turning point in his reputation and introduces the idea of unusual favors following him.

Following the morning event Prince's entourage

Dinner in honor and more delays

The prince's gratitude leads to a dinner in Tyutyurin's honor, giving him a taste of respect and social opportunity. Yet this 'reward' also delays his arrival to work, prolonging the staff's worry about his reliability. The day continues to be full of unexpected twists.

Afternoon Prince's residence

A fall under the car and the surprise passenger

While on the return from the dinner, Tyutyurin falls under a car, and Edita Piekha sits behind the wheel. The incident injects farce into his already complicated day and another odd encounter into his life. The moment shifts his fate toward the salon again.

Evening Street/roadside

The fable comes to life

Back at work with time pressing, Tyutyurin starts composing a 'believable' story about a party with beauties and dances to satisfy his boss. With Mymrikov's help, they stage the tale to demonstrate improved behavior. The ruse is meant to secure the promotion letter.

Evening Salon office

Boss buys the lie

The chief accepts the story for the moment, and decides to sign Tyutyurin's character reference. The relationship between truth and performance becomes blurred as the lie temporarily achieves its aim. The atmosphere at the salon shifts toward celebration.

Late afternoon Salon office

Remorse and confession

Overcome by guilt, Tyutyurin confesses the truth, recounting the real events—about the girl, the ball, and the fountain. He admits he cannot consistently deceive people, acknowledging his nature. Vasily Vasilyevich immediately becomes convinced Tyutyurin is incorrigible and fears the consequences.

Evening Salon office

The boss contemplates drastic measures

Alarmed by the confession, Mymrikov contemplates drastic actions to deal with Tyutyurin's 'incorrigibility.' His decision foreshadows a potential discharge or punishment that could end Tyutyurin's career. The tension rises as the consequences of honesty threaten his future.

Evening Salon office

The translator brings a gift from the prince

The prince's translator arrives at the beauty salon bearing a present for Tyutyurin, signaling that the prince has not forgotten the grateful gestures. This gift complicates the situation by adding another layer of attention around Tyutyurin. It hints at further reconciliation rather than punishment.

Evening Beauty salon

Edita Piekha and the resolution

Edita Piekha arrives at the scene with Tyutyurin's wife, helping to resolve the misunderstandings that grew from the day’s chaos. Their appearance ties together the loose ends and clarifies the social entanglements. The humor and warmth of the moment restabilize Tyutyurin's standing.

Night Beauty salon

Misunderstandings resolved

With the key players present, the conflict settles. Tyutyurin's true kindness and the earlier misadventures are understood as part of his character rather than deceit. The day ends with a restored balance and renewed prospects for his career.

Night Salon

Incorrigible Liar Characters

Explore all characters from Incorrigible Liar (1973). Get detailed profiles with their roles, arcs, and key relationships explained.

Aleksei Ivanovich Tyutyurin (Georgy Vitsin)

A kind and gentle hairdresser who has worked for twenty years. He is repeatedly late and earns a reputation as an incorrigible liar, though his misadventures show that he often acts with honesty and goodwill. Throughout the day he stumbles into unusual situations—helping a boy retrieve a ball, returning a lost cigarette case, and crossing paths with a foreign prince—leading others to misread him. In the end, he navigates a delicate balance between telling the truth and maintaining his dignity, until a final confession reshapes how others view him.

🤝 Kindness ⏳ Punctuality 🗣️ Honesty

Vasily Vasilyevich Mymrikov (Nikolai Prokopovich)

The salon’s boss, a practical and exacting manager who values reliability. He initially views Tyutyurin’s lateness with suspicion and is quick to question the truth of his stories. He pushes for a formal character reference and tests Tyutyurin’s behavior, creating enough pressure for the character to either reform or falter under scrutiny. His pragmatic approach anchors the film’s workplace dynamics and ethical questions.

🧑‍💼 Boss 🧭 Pragmatic 🎭 Authority

Edita Piekha (herself) (Edita Piekha)

The famous singer Edita Piekha makes a cameo appearance as herself. Her presence adds glamour and a lively spark to the salon's world, intensifying the social mix and contributing to the day’s misunderstandings. Her brief visit intersects with Tyutyurin’s personal arc and helps propel the comedic resolution with a touch of celebrity charm.

🌟 Cameo 🎤 Celebrity

Burukhtan II (Vladimir Etush)

A foreign ruler figure who enters the salon’s orbit, providing an exotic flair to the everyday proceedings. His presence heightens the sense of cross-cultural exchange and fuels some of the film’s international intrigue. The character’s appearances help drive the plot toward a climactic misunderstanding and eventual resolution.

👑 Royalty 🌍 Foreign

Translator (Irakli Khizanishvili)

The prince’s translator, facilitating cross-language exchanges that complicate misunderstandings. He navigates the salon’s social web and interacts with Tyutyurin, highlighting the linguistic gaps that humorously shape the plot. His role underscores the theme of communication across cultures.

🗣️ Translator 🌍 International

Translator (Boris Sichkin)

Another translator who helps bridge language gaps within the foreign guest’s entourage. His presence adds to the plate of comic miscommunications and helps move scenes around the salon and its guests forward. The translator’s quick wit contributes to the day’s humor and narrative pace.

🗣️ Translator

Misha's mother (Aleksandra Dorokhina)

A maternal figure connected to Misha, adding a layer of family influence to the salon’s social circle. Her presence reinforces themes of care, community, and the everyday concerns of ordinary people. She participates in the day’s events with warmth and a sense of domestic responsibility.

👩‍👧 Family 🧵 Community

Katya the hairdresser (Larisa Barabanova)

A fellow hairdresser and colleague within the salon, helping to populate the microcosm of salon life. Her interactions with Tyutyurin provide counterpoints to his chaos and contribute to the workplace camaraderie. She embodies the everyday professionalism and humor of salon work.

💇 Hairdresser 👫 Colleague

Vova (Arkadi Markin)

A boy associated with Tyutyurin’s day, likely connected to the ball incident that triggers several of the film’s events. His presence represents the innocent side of the city’s daily rhythms and the way small acts ripple outward. The encounter with Tyutyurin marks a turning point in the unfolding misadventures.

🧒 Child 🪀 Play

Sergei Stepanovich (Ivan Ryzhov)

A salon client or colleague who interacts with Tyutyurin, contributing to the day’s social mix. His exchanges with Tyutyurin highlight workplace dynamics and the informal networks that shape the character’s reputation. He helps ground the story in its everyday, communal setting.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Client 🧭 Authority

Policeman near embassy (Nikolay Pogodin)

A minor authority figure who appears in scenes around the embassy, adding a note of official vigilance to the plot’s web of misunderstandings. His presence emphasizes the film’s light satire of bureaucratic life and public spaces. He interacts with the main characters at key moments that propel the comic tension forward.

👮 Law 🏛️ Embassy

Foreign ministry employee (Nikolay Smorchkov)

A cameo as a government employee, underscoring the international touches of the salon’s world. His appearance contributes to the film’s satirical take on officialdom and diplomacy within everyday life. The brief screen time adds a layer of social commentary to the comedy.

🏛️ Government 🧭 International

Incorrigible Liar Settings

Learn where and when Incorrigible Liar (1973) takes place. Explore the film’s settings, era, and how they shape the narrative.

Location

Beauty salon, City streets

The action centers on a bustling beauty salon, a social hub where clients and staff collide in a chorus of small dramas. The hairdresser Aleksei Ivanovich Tyutyurin moves through the day, his routine punctuated by casual misadventures that draw the attention of coworkers and patrons. The surrounding city provides a backdrop of everyday life, with errands and encounters that spill from the salon into the streets and back again.

🎭 Everyday life 🏢 Workplace 🏙️ City

Incorrigible Liar Themes

Discover the main themes in Incorrigible Liar (1973). Analyze the deeper meanings, emotional layers, and social commentary behind the film.

💬

Truth vs Lies

At the heart of the story is the tension between truth and deception. Tyutyurin is branded as someone who lies, yet the events reveal that his actions often come from goodwill rather than deceit. The plot uses a fable-like frame to explore how honesty and storytelling interact in everyday life. The resolution hinges on uncovering the real story behind the stray anecdotes.

🪪

Public Image

Reputation shapes how Tyutyurin is treated by his boss and by colleagues, turning his punctuality and character into assets or liabilities. The attempt to polish his image with a 'believable' tale backfires, highlighting social pressure to present a perfect persona. As truths surface, the characters reassess trust, emphasizing the gap between appearance and reality. The film uses humor to critique how public image can distort personal ethics.

✨

Chance Encounters

A sequence of random meetings—rescuing a ball, returning a gold cigarette case to a foreign prince, and a celebrity cameo—sets off a cascade of misunderstandings. These coincidences propel the plot and reveal character traits under pressure. The humor and warmth come from everyday chances that alter relationships and outcomes. The film suggests life is shaped by small, seemingly trivial events.

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Incorrigible Liar Spoiler-Free Summary

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In a bustling Soviet‑era salon, Alexei Ivanovich Tyutyurin has spent two decades shaping hair and hearts with his quiet generosity. Though respected for his skill, his reputation is tangled in a paradox: he is constantly late, and his coworkers have labeled him an incorrigible liar. The true source of his delays is a string of odd, almost fateful encounters that turn his commute into a cascade of bewildering situations. Each episode challenges the thin line between ordinary routine and the whimsical absurdity that seems to seep from the streets of the city itself.

When a coveted promotion to manager surfaces, Vasily Vasilievich Mymrikov, the salon’s pragmatic director, must decide whether to endorse a man whose honesty is questioned not for deceit, but for the surreal tales that accompany his explanations. The workplace becomes a microcosm of clash between bureaucratic expectations and the unpredictable charm of Alexei’s world, where everyday conversations ripple with hints of something larger just beyond the salon’s mirrored walls. The tone, a light‑hearted blend of gentle comedy and subtle melancholy, invites the audience to ponder how truth is perceived when reality itself feels a little askew.

As whispers of Alexei’s extraordinary punctuality hurdles spread, the salon’s atmosphere subtly shifts; curiosity grows, and the line between myth and reality begins to blur. Visitors who seem out of place start to appear, hinting that the protagonist’s uncanny experiences may have wider reverberations than his colleagues imagined. The story sets the stage for a whimsical exploration of honesty, reputation, and the delightful chaos that can arise when ordinary lives intersect with the unexpectedly magical.