‘Critics and viewers typically perceive the cinema of the late Soviet period as dominated by male stars, male directors, and the male gaze. Women in Soviet Film complicates this perspective by revealing the "womanly face" of Thaw and Stagnation cinema. Defying expectations, a gendered critique of Soviet (and especially late Soviet) patriarchality in the cinema of the 1960-70s appears to be more profound and more disquieting than in the following, much more liberal times. Most paradoxically, as the volume’s authors eloquently demonstrate, this deconstruction was performed from within popular cinematic genres, in mainstream films and by beloved stars. This hidden streak of gendered subversion within mainstream Soviet cinema, is a true discovery superbly presented by this collection of articles.’ - Mark Lipovetsky, Professor of Russian Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder