A Station for Two

Shades of 1954's Indiscretion of an American Wife colour this exceedingly mild satire from the usually acerbic Eldar Ryazanov. Yet, considering the restrictions placed on Soviet film-makers, this is still an acute analysis of the moral and material problems then facing the USSR, with the queues, delays, shortages, drunkenness and racketeering that provide the film's backstory clearly serving a microcosmic purpose. The narrative itself has allegorical undertones, as one-time concert pianist Oleg Basilashvili is released from the gulag where he's serving a sentence for manslaughter in order to visit his wife. However, a chance encounter with feisty waitress Lyudmila Gurchenko alters everything.