Bed and Sofa

Abram Room's 1927 Soviet film tells of the Moscow housing shortage through a triangle. A construction worker takes an old friend into his home; the man sleeps on the sofa and is soon involved with the wife. When the husband finds out the balance reverses, but nobody can leave the flat, because there is nowhere to go. The film comes from the free period of Soviet cinema before socialist realism and treats the position of women, marriage and abortion directly. When the woman becomes pregnant both men urge abortion; the decision she makes is the film's real conclusion. The director's interest is not propaganda but the confinement of daily life. It is short and its humour dry. Who it's for: viewers interested in Soviet silent cinema and in social history. Who it's not for: anyone who finds silent films hard going, or avoiding the subject of abortion.