The history of the first plastic surgeon in the USSR

About the series and the prototype of the protagonist …

According to the plot of the series, the doctor Lev Preobrazhensky (Denis Shvedov) lives with the idea of ​​creating a plastic surgery clinic. His colleague Igor Zorin (Pyotr Skvortsov) draws inspiration from Western magazines, where science has stepped far ahead, overtaking the USSR. Zorin is an innovator, and Preobrazhensky is a conservative. The series was directed by Sergei Taramaev and Lyubov Lvova.

“Doctor Preobrazhensky has a real prototype,” said director Sergei Taramaev. – This is the legendary plastic surgeon Alexander Shmelev, who operated on many stars of Soviet cinema. He served as a collective image of the main character. In one of the episodes there is an actress played by Katya Volkova, she is, as it were, the prototype of the movie star Lyubov Orlova. By the way, plastic surgery (after the 1961 denomination) cost from 5 rubles, a circular facelift – from 7 rubles, so it was available to all Soviet women. Although the leaders of the country then could not understand why a Soviet working man needs beauty, he is already good with his wise wrinkles and work calluses.

How were the surgical instruments used?

The consultant helped to maintain the accuracy (there is a huge number of operations in the series) – surgeon Andrei Zhumanov. At one time, his teachers told him a lot about the emergence of plastics in the USSR. Together we figured out how to show this or that operation, so that it would not be too physiological, but would give the necessary emotions. And the main thing is that the instruments and equipment correspond to the plastic surgery of that era. Most of them are already a rarity and look like torture devices. For one scene, a scary skin peeling tool was used. In the frame, with the help of it, the skin was transplanted from the thigh to the burned face of the boy.

About the process of operations …

For the sake of creating a beauty institute, Preobrazhensky will make a deal with the KGB and, to some extent, with his conscience. He is allowed to open an experimental department, but on condition that there will be operations to change the appearance of which no one except the special services will know. This is a real fact. The KGB used the labor of such innovators in the interests of the state. At that time, the anesthesia was calculated for about two hours, so several surgeons during operations to change the appearance divided the body into sections and did the work in parallel. Maybe this is unrealistic, but in the cinema there is always a tolerance for fiction and fantasy. It is a great success for us that the duet of Shvedov and Skvortsov coincided. Denis had a huge amount of text with specific phrases associated with various instruments, which he had to pronounce during operations. And Shvedov was on top, a role model. We are happy that he played Preobrazhensky. After all, there were huge auditions that lasted three months – the material was filmed in 4 episodes according to the casting time. In Denis everything that we needed coincided – he, as a person, has charisma, a lot of nobility, he is courageous and at the same time warm, gentle, empathic. Although Shvedov is younger than Preobrazhensky, he is not even 40, and the hero celebrates his 45th anniversary in the series, we are glad that he played this hero.

What did surgeons look like in the USSR?

We tried to keep the authenticity of the 60s era in everything. The clothes of surgeons, gloves are made according to the laws of those years. We sewed the dressing gowns specially of the same cut and similar texture, but from a different material so that they would not wrinkle quickly and look better in the frame. For the main characters, outfits were made from fabrics as close as possible to the samples of the required era. And for the crowd, they picked up clothes in special warehouses. From the point of view of architecture, the 60s have practically died out or are in a depressing state. Zelenograd saved us, all the buildings there hint at that era.

About the first implants and horse hair for suturing wounds …

“Even at that time there were many innovative inventions from improvised means,” says director Lyubov Lvova. – Now they use special surgical threads, which even dissolve on their own, but then they used horsehair for thin seams. The surgical threads of those years were thick, so they could not be used in plastic surgery. I would say that we trace the theme of the American TV series Knickerbocker Hospital, which takes place at the beginning of the twentieth century, when innovators were promoting medicine in completely non-standard ways. We were told a curious story about the first implant for a female breast, oil was poured into it – almost olive oil. “You’ll also start cooking salad!” Says the big boss to Preobrazhensky in the operating room. 

The implants were so imperfect that they literally exploded on the plane with a sharp change in pressure, a reddish liquid entered from them, but the women remained alive. Surgeons-inventors could not have foreseen such an incident. In our series, there will be no such scary scenes. By the way, telephone booths, soda machines, kiosks, cars of those years will appear in the frame. The interiors of communal apartments were filmed in the studio – in the aesthetics of that time – with furniture, curtains and other paraphernalia. And, of course, with neighbors running around with hot pans along the corridor. Petya Skvortsov 2 weeks before filming came to audition shaved bald, in black shorts and a T-shirt – the spitting image of Mick Jagger. They auditioned, started filming him in a wig, but it looked pretentious. Hair grew quickly, reshoot the first five days of filming without a wig and worked the same way until the end of filming.