Formula of Love

Formula of Love (Russian: Формула любви) is a 1984 Soviet romantic fantasy comedy film directed by Mark Zakharov, from a screenplay by Grigori Gorin. It is loosely based on the story "Count Cagliostro" by Aleksei Tolstoy about a magician who sets out to prove humans power against the gods by fabricating love without the influence of the gods. It also follows the story lines of the woman he is trying to force to fall in love, the family with which they are staying and the stories of his servants.

Plot
In 1780, after a short fraudulent tour in St. Petersburg, the famous adventurer, “sorcerer” and “master of secret forces” Count Cagliostro was forced to hide from the chase sent by the almighty Prince Potemkin. With him are his companions - Lorenza, Margadon, Jacob. At the same time, Cagliostro is trying to find the "formula" of the only feeling that he is still not able to evoke in human hearts - love.

Along the way, Cagliostro calls into the house of one of his clients - a sick landowner. He promises to cure the patient if he agrees to send his daughter with him, Maria, through whom, according to Cagliostro, an “astral connection” with the patient will be maintained. After a brief hesitation, Mashenka is released with the count, and Cagliostro sets off again.

At the same time, a young landowner Alexei Fedyashev lives in the Russian outback near Smolensk. Living in an estate with an elderly unmarried aunt, Fedyashev cannot find a chosen one and secretly dreams of an unattainable "incorporeal" ideal. At one time he "left the light, fled from the capital." Alexei is in love with a statue standing in a homestead park and dreams of reviving it - “how once the Greek gods breathed life into a stone Galatea”. Accidentally learning from a local doctor that Cagliostro, the master of “materializing sensory ideas”, is close to his estate, Alexey finds a count in a provincial hotel where he is hiding from persecution, while trying to awaken tender feelings in Mary. Cagliostro at first refuses Fedyashev, but at the request of Mary, who interceded for the young man in love, he still moves to the estate of Alexei.

The visit of foreign guests causes a stir in a quiet estate. Cagliostro examines the statue. He does not promise a complete resemblance when reviving - according to the plan, the “revived” statue should be depicted by his companion in the scams of Lorentz, secretly in love with Cagliostro. Alexey draws attention to Maria, finds in her resemblance to his marble ideal and begins to fall in love.

The count and his companions live on the estate, without stopping attempts to arouse Mary's love for himself. Alexei, meanwhile, is preparing for "materialization." Aunt with her provincial pragmatism advises him to “recapture” the girl from the count, instead of ruining youth in futile dreams. Alexey understands that he is in love with a living girl and his love for the statue has already passed, but according to the count, it is already impossible to stop the “revival” of the statue. Attending the “revitalization” ritual, Alexei realizes the deception, calls the Count a dishonest man and challenges him to a duel.

The duelists converge, but the count proposes to change the conditions of the match and shoot the lot by loading one of the pistols. Alex chooses a gun and shoots himself in the heart, but he turns out to be uncharged. Cagliostro shoots himself in the temple. The second pistol is also not loaded - the count’s servant, Margadon, did not bother to load the pistols: “If I were an honest man, how many people would die in Europe!..”

The count comes to his senses on the estate. Meanwhile, the metropolitan pursuit almost overtakes him. In a neighboring town, soldiers appear, sent in search of the count. Cagliostro and his companions are again ready to go on the run. Leaving the estate, he meets a girl, the granddaughter of a model who once posed for the sculptor of that statue. At this moment, he is overtaken by Alexei’s neighbor, Zagosin, an amateur artist who has long pursued Cagliostro in order to paint his portrait. Cagliostro understands that there is no sense in running away from the authorities, and agrees. All Aleksey’s household members, Aleksey and Mashenka, are gathering right there. They are joined by soldiers who arrived to detain Cagliostro. Zagosin writes a group portrait of the whole company.

The doctor pronounces an epilogue in which he reports on the last days of Cagliostro’s life in a Roman prison and that the drawing of a Russian artist depicting a count surrounded by people unknown to historians and transferred to him by Lorenzo’s prison remained with Cagliostro until his death.

Cast

 * Nodar Mgaloblishvili as Count Cagliostro (voiced by Armen Dzhigarkhanyan)
 * Yelena Valyushkina as Mariya
 * Aleksandr Mikhailov as Aleksei Fedyashev
 * Aleksandr Abdulov as Jacob
 * Semyon Farada as Margadon
 * Aleksandra Zakharova as Fimka
 * Yelena Aminova as Lorenza
 * Tatyana Pelttser as Fedosya Ivanovna
 * Leonid Bronevoy as Doctor
 * Nikolai Skorobogatov as Stepan
 * Aleksandra Kharitonova