How Vladimir Mayakovsky once wrote a script for a French film
The renowned Soviet poet frequently visited Paris, where he led a vibrant social life. It's unclear exactly how he met renowned avant-garde director René Clair, but, in 1928, Mayakovsky agreed to write a script for a sound film for him. He announced this in a telegram to his muse, Lilya Brik.
The poet titled the story for Clair, in an avant-garde vein: ‘The Ideal and the Blanket’. The protagonist, of course, was himself. "Mayakovsky loves. Mayakovsky loves women. A man of sublime feelings, he seeks the ideal woman. He even took up reading Tolstoy. He mentally creates ideal beings, he promises himself to tie his fate only to a woman who meets his ideal – but he always encounters other women," the screenplay began.
According to the plot, the poet falls in love with one of these "other women" and a vulgar, sensual and tempestuous affair begins between them. Mayakovsky dreamed of ending their relationship and fell in love with the woman's voice on the phone, imagining that she was his one and only. Years later, he finally breaks up with his tiresome lover and sets out to meet his beautiful stranger. But, when he sees her, he realizes that his spurned lover and the imaginary beautiful woman are one and the same.
However, for some unknown reason, the film never saw the light of day. Only a draft of the script was ever published after the poet's death in the book ‘Mayakovsky – Playwright’.
