Don't Grieve!

A small Georgian town at the end of the nineteenth century. Benjamin has come back from medical studies in St Petersburg and is the most liked man in the place: educated, cheerful, talks to everybody, and treats the poor for nothing most of the time. It makes him popular and puts nothing in his pocket. The father of the woman he loves regards his daughter as capital and will permit nothing before a contract is signed. Georgiy Daneliya adapted a novel by the French writer Claude Tillier, lifting the story out of France and setting it down whole in Georgia. It keeps laughter and grief at the same table, moves slowly, and is full of songs. Gia Kancheli wrote the music and Vakhtang Kikabidze plays Benjamin.