Afonya

Afonya works as a plumber in a provincial town, neglects the job, squeezes money out of customers, drinks in the evenings, and gradually loses everyone around him. Georgiy Daneliya appears to have built a comedy and it turns by degrees into a portrait of loneliness, as the man at some point genuinely registers what he has made of his life and finds no way back. It was extraordinarily popular in the Soviet Union precisely because the character was recognisable; everyone knew an Afonya on their own street. The ending is deliberately left open. The detail of daily life, the apartment corridors and the workplace scenes are among the most authentic records of the period. Who it is for: viewers who like Soviet comedies of ordinary life. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a likeable protagonist, which the film never intends.