Margarit and Margaritha (original title: Маргарит и Маргарита) is a 1989 Bulgarian film about two high school teenagers facing the reality of rebelling against communist authority.
Margarita, known as "Rita", gets transferred to a new school after trouble with a pervert teacher, but trouble follows her here too. She catches the attention of Margarit ("Măr"), but he gets himself expelled defending her. Rita follows him and the two soon discover all the hardships which adult life in Bulgaria's corrupt society can throw in the face of two rebellious school dropouts.
Tropes featured in this film:
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Măr is sentenced to death after killing Nerizanov, but on the way to the court room he grabs a cop's pistol and shoots himself in the head.
- Break Them by Talking: Nerizanov delivers a breaking speech to Margarit, Margarita and the sycophantic Julian:Nerizanov: Julian! Come here, son. Look, my shoelace is untied. Come on, tie it! (Julian reluctantly beds to do so) Aaaaah, not like that, sonny, not like that. Turn around. (Julian does) Let me see you tie my shoelaces. (starts humping him) Ah... Yeah, just like that... Long and slow! Thaaat's right... That's it. Got it now? You know now how to tie the boss' shoes? Now guess: how many shoes have I tied to be here? Huh? I've
blossomed like a rose in May... And I'm still blossoming! And I'll blossom some more! I'll tie shoelaces and grow tall! Up and up... because those like me are meant to stand above you! Above the crowd, and to rule! - Commie Land/Dirty Communists: The setting is 80s communist Bulgaria, a Wretched Hive of corruption.
- Cool People Rebel Against Authority: both leads, notably Margarit, who won't stand for any injustice.
- Corrupt Politician/Sleazy Politician: Nerizanov is the resident "party highness" (high-ranking communist party official) who rules the town with an iron fist from his mansion, gets luxury goods at 10x discount rate (in a time when they were prohibitively expensive or outright unavailable to commoners) and arranges his (unwilling) mistress with an apartment. He also loves watching himself on TV as he addresses the nation on New Year's Eve.
- From Bad to Worse: Rita and Măr first get expelled, which doesn't seem too bad. Then the parents of both kick them out so they have to live in a filthy basement. Still, they both get menial jobs and get by, but Rita gets noticed by a ballet instructor, Julian, who wants to sleep with her. Avoiding his advances only gets her to Comrade Nerizanov, a party secretary who's even worse - he rapes her and turns her into his mistress in exchange for providing her with an apartment. Măr finally kills Nerizanov, only to commit suicide at his trial.
- Meaningful Name: "Nerizanov" sounds like "nerez" (an uncastrated pig, shorthand for a horny, repulsive man), which fits his image of a corrupt hick.
- Sex for Services: Nerizanov makes clear that this is how one gets basic rights such as ownership of a small apartment. He also humiliates Julian sexually by ordering him to bend over to tie his (Nerizanov's) shoelace, then proceeds to hump him. (In Bulgarian, the words for "shoelaces" and "connections" are the same.)Nerizanov: If you want to receive, you have to give.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Julian wants to get Rita into his bed. His own boss snatches her out from under him and then gloats about it.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. The two get to know each other exactly because they have the same name and get seated next to each other in class.
