Этот фильм о любви.

Этот means this. It agrees with the noun фильм in gender, number, and case.

• фильм = masculine, singular, nominative
• so we use этот = masculine, singular, nominative form of this

Some related forms are:

• этот фильм = this film
• эта книга = this book
• это письмо = this letter
• эти фильмы = these films

In Russian, the verb to be is usually left out in the present tense.

So:

• Этот фильм о любви. literally looks like This film about love.
• but it naturally means This film is about love.

This is completely normal in Russian. In the past or future, forms of to be can appear differently through other structures, but in simple present-tense statements like this, there is usually no is/are.

Because the preposition о normally requires the prepositional case.

The basic dictionary form is:

• любовь = love

But after о it changes to the prepositional form:

• о любви = about love

So the pattern is:

• о + prepositional case

Examples:

• о фильме = about the film
• о книге = about the book
• о любви = about love

Here о means about.

So:

• фильм о любви = a film about love

It is a very common preposition for topics, themes, and subjects of speech, writing, or art.

For example:

• книга о войне = a book about war
• разговор о работе = a conversation about work

This is because любовь is a feminine noun, and after о it must be in the prepositional case.

The noun changes like this:

• nominative: любовь
• prepositional: о любви

This type of change is part of Russian case endings. You do not just memorize the preposition о by itself; you also learn that it usually makes the following noun take the prepositional form.

Yes, фильм is masculine.

One clue is that many Russian nouns ending in a consonant are masculine. Фильм ends in -м, a consonant, so it is masculine.

That is why we say:

• этот фильм

and not:

• эта фильм
• это фильм

Yes, Russian word order is fairly flexible, but the neutral, most natural order here is:

• Этот фильм о любви.

You might also hear:

• О любви этот фильм.

That version puts more emphasis on о любви. It can sound more literary, contrastive, or context-dependent.

For learners, the safest default is the original order:

• Этот фильм о любви.

The noun любовь most directly means love. In this sentence, о любви usually means about love as a theme.

Depending on context, that could include:

• romantic love
• love in a broad emotional sense
• relationships

So the exact nuance depends on the film and situation, but grammatically the sentence simply says the film is about love.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide is:

• EH-tət feelm a lyu-BVEE

A few helpful notes:

• э sounds like e in met
• этот is pronounced roughly EH-tət
• фильм has a soft ль sound; it is not exactly like English film
• любви has stress on the last syllable: любВИ

If you want to say it smoothly:

• Этот фильм о любви.
• EH-tət feelm a lyu-BVEE.

Yes. In everyday Russian, фильм commonly means both film and movie.

So this sentence can be translated naturally as either:

• This film is about love.
• This movie is about love.

The best choice in English depends on style and context.

It is a complete sentence in Russian.

Even though there is no visible word for is, Russian allows this kind of present-tense sentence without it. So it is not just a noun phrase like this film about love in broken English. In Russian, it is a normal, complete statement:

• Этот фильм о любви. = This film is about love.

You would say:

• Тот фильм о любви.

Here:

• этот = this
• тот = that

So:

• Этот фильм о любви. = This film is about love.
• Тот фильм о любви. = That film is about love.