Dom na Trubnoi

Parasha, a “country bumpkin” has difficulties finding her way around in Moscow's bustling streets. But then, by chance, she encounters an acquaintance, who puts her up. She has just arrived from the remotest province, only to find herself in a metropolitan anthill. Almost every conceivable aspect of life is lived out in the hallway of the house in Trubnaya Street. Having no trade-union connections, Parasha gets a job working for a hair-dresser, who immediately starts exploiting her. An amateur dramatic performance at the workers' club, a confusion of names in an election to the city soviet, and a triumphal march through the streets of Moscow change her life profoundly.
As they were if looking into a dolls-house, viewers can see how people treat one another in the new Russia and what they get up to. The flight from the land, age-old poverty and New Economic Policy shake up Moscow society completely. But everyone has to get on with everyone else in even the most confined of spaces. Barnet, the director, takes their trials and tribulations seriously. In this socially critical comedy, he not only finds his own style, but also discovers modern means of cinematic expression: a light, soft tone amidst all the screeching and sloganeering. Humour is when you laugh despite everything …

Print courtesy of the Austrian Film Museum, Vienna