Chasing Two Hares

Chasing Two Hares, also known as A Kyiv Comedy, is a 1961 Ukrainian comedy film directed by Viktor Ivanov based on the eponymous play by Mykhailo Starytsky. Plot In the late 19th century Kyiv, a frivolous barber named Svyryd Petrovych Holokhvosty (Oleg Borisov) goes bankrupt and is forced to close his shop. Upon learning that a Mr. Sirko (Mykola Yakovenko) is offering a dowry of ten thousand roubles for his unrefined and unattractive daughter, Pronya (Marharyta Krynytsyna), Svyryd decides to pay his debts by marrying her. Svyryd dupes a German creditor of his to finance the courtship. While showing off his new suit to friends in the park on Saint Volodymyr Hill, he sees and briefly flirts with the beautiful Halya (Nataliya Naum) before being chased away by her would be boyfriend, Stepan (Anatoliy Yurchenko). That evening, Svyryd takes Pronya to the movies on a date and afterwards makes a false confession of love to her. She invites him to her house to propose. Later that night, while drinking with his friends, Svyryd boasts about his successful date with Pronya; and that once he gets the money, he will start an affair with a beauty. Svyryd meets Halya in an alley, falsely confesses his love to her, claims to be a rich suitor, and forces her into an embrace. Halya's mother, Sekleta Lymerykha (Nonna Koperzhynska), happens by and stops it. Sekleta threatens him and makes him swear on the steps of Saint Andrew's Church to marry Halya whose heart actually belongs to Stepan. The next day, Sekleta, sister to Mrs. Sirko, lets herself into her sister's home where she insults them and is summarily thrown out. Svyryd narrowly misses Sekleta as he arrives to propose and receive the Sirkos' blessing for marriage with Pronya.