In the chaos of post-war Russia a widow and her young son meet a handsome but unscrupulous army captain; all three are gradually drawn into an exciting but dangerous relationship. A bleak fable of human needs and compromises, capturing the harshness but also the humanity of communal flats, meals, squabbles, fears and hopes, under Stalin’s ubiquitous eye.
Russia/France 1997, 97 minutes
Comments
“Brilliant: almost too powerful”
“Best this year. Gripping plot. Portrayed so much about 50s Russia (USSR?)”
“Beautiful & gripping but the most depressing film I’ve ever seen!”
“Excellent with wonderful landscapes”
“Magnificent scenery & music”
“A Bout de Souffle meets Dostoyevsky. So Russian & intense. Lovely”
“Angela’s Ashes with snow. Misha Phillipchuk (the boy) was brilliant”
“The child actor was extra-ordinary”
“The boy was superb”
“Short and feature were like white & black: what a contrast!”