Learn Hardcore Russian: После фильма зрительница сказала, что ей важнее обсуждение, чем сама драма. - After the movie a female viewer said that the discussion is more important to her than the drama itself.

после фильма – focuses on the specific film as a work of art, the particular movie you just watched.
после кино – often means after going to the cinema or after our cinema outing. It’s more about the event/activity than the specific film.

In your sentence, после фильма fits especially well if the following discussion is about that particular movie’s drama.

Why is it зрительница and not зритель?

Зритель is the basic noun meaning spectator / viewer. Grammatically it is masculine and can be used generically (for a person of any gender), especially in neutral or formal contexts.

Зрительница is the explicitly feminine form: female spectator / female viewer.

зритель – male spectator (or gender-neutral in some contexts)
зрительница – female spectator

The author clearly wants to highlight that the speaker is a woman, so they use зрительница and then the verb сказала in the feminine past tense to match her gender.

Why is the verb сказала and not сказал or говорила?

Russian past tense verbs agree with the subject’s gender and number.

masculine singular: сказал
feminine singular: сказала
neuter singular: сказало
plural: сказали

Since the subject is зрительница (a female spectator), the verb is сказала.

As for сказать vs говорить:

сказать (perfective) – to say (a specific act, completed statement)
- она сказала = she said (one specific time)
говорить (imperfective) – to speak / to talk / to say (in general, or ongoing)
- она говорила = she was saying / she used to say / she talked

Here we have one specific remark after the film, so сказала is the natural choice.

Why is there a comma before что and no comma after фильма?

Comma before что

In Russian, что very often introduces a subordinate clause (like English that in she said that…). The standard rule is:

Put a comma before что when it begins a subordinate clause.

So:

зрительница сказала, что ей важнее…

= the viewer said that …

No comma after фильма

A short prepositional phrase at the beginning, like после фильма, normally does not require a comma:

После фильма зрительница сказала… – correct, no comma needed.
You might see a comma after a longer or more complicated introductory phrase, but после фильма is short and simple, so Russian punctuation does not require a comma there.

Why is it ей важнее… and not она важнее… or её важнее…?

Ей is the dative form of она (she). In Russian, feelings, importance, necessity, etc. are very often expressed with the dative case + predicate:

ей важно = it is important to her
ему интересно = it is interesting to him
нам холодно = we are cold (literally: it is cold to us)

In your sentence:

ей важнее обсуждение, чем сама драма
Literally: to her, the discussion is more important than the drama itself.

So:

ей – to her (dative “experiencer”)
важнее – comparative of важно, more important
обсуждение – the thing that is more important to her

Она важнее would mean she is more important…, which is not the meaning here.
Её важнее would usually be understood as her (as an object) is more important… and doesn’t fit the structure either.

What exactly is важнее grammatically, and why not use более важно?

Важнее is the comparative form of the adjective важный (important).

важный – important
важнее – more important

It is formed by adding -ее:

долгий → дольше (irregular)
тихий → тише (irregular)
важный → важнее (regular comparative)

You can also form a periphrastic comparative with более:

более важный / более важно – literally more important

In this sentence, both are possible:

ей важнее обсуждение
обсуждение для неё более важно

The version with важнее is shorter and more natural in everyday speech. Более важно sounds a bit more formal or written, but it’s also correct.

Why is обсуждение in the nominative case here?

Because обсуждение is the logical subject of the implied predicate is more important (for her).

The structure is:

(Для неё / ей) – dative experiencer
обсуждение – subject (nominative)
важнее (чего-то) – comparative predicate

So we can think of it as:

Обсуждение (есть) важнее (чего?) самой драмы.
The discussion (is) more important (than what?) than the drama itself.

Russian often omits есть (is), but the grammar stays the same: the thing that is “more important” stands in the nominative.

Compare:

Для меня отдых важнее работы.
Rest is more important than work (to me).
- отдых – nominative subject
- работы – genitive after the comparative (another pattern, see below)

Why is it чем сама драма and not something like самой драмы? Are both options possible?

There are two main ways to express comparison after a comparative in Russian:

With чем
- nominative:

важнее, чем драма
лучше, чем фильм
быстрее, чем он

With genitive of comparison (without чем):

важнее драмы
лучше фильма
быстрее его

Your sentence uses pattern 1:

ей важнее обсуждение, чем сама драма

Literally: to her, the discussion is more important than the drama itself.

If you switch to pattern 2, it would be:

ей обсуждение важнее самой драмы

Both are grammatically correct; чем + nominative is very common, especially in spoken language. The version with самой драмы (genitive) sounds a bit more literary/formal.

One important stylistic point: don’t mix the two patterns in one comparison, like:

обсуждение важнее самой драмы, чем… – this is treated as bad style in standard Russian.

Use either чем + nominative or bare genitive, not both together in the same comparison.

What does сама add in сама драма? Why not just чем драма?

Сам / сама / само / сами can act as an intensifier meaning “the … itself” or “exactly that …”.

драма – the drama
сама драма – the drama itself

Adding сама emphasizes contrast:

Not the plot/drama itself, but the discussion about it is more important to her.

A few more examples:

сам фильм был скучным, но обсуждение интересным.
The film itself was boring, but the discussion was interesting.
меня интересует сам человек, а не его статус.
I’m interested in the person himself, not his status.

So чем драма would be fine grammatically, but чем сама драма sounds more expressive and matches the idea that she values the discussion more than the artistic content itself.