Letter to Brezhnev

Letter to Brezhnev is a 1985 film written and directed by gay Liverpudlians Frank Clarke and Chris Bernard. It tells the story of two Liverpool women, Teresa and Elaine, played by Margi Clark and Alexandra Pigg who go on a night out in the city and meet two sailors from the USSR. During the course of the evening Elaine falls in love with her sailor, Peter, but as he is on temporary shore leave, the next day he returns to his ship and leaves Liverpool. Missing him and realising that Liverpool has no more to offer her than the USSR, Elaine writes a letter to the Soviet General Secretary, Leonid Brezhnev, asking to move to the USSR and be reunited with Peter. The film was described by film critic and author Gary Couzens in 2003 on film.thedigitalfix.com as, “a disguised gay movie, partly inspired by Frank Clarke and Chris Bernard meeting some Russian sailors on shore leave. It’s not difficult to sense a gay sensibility at work, not least the out-and-out kitsch of the very Disneyesque star that Peter points out to Elaine”.