Bed and Sofa
About Bed and Sofa
In a Moscow flat during the New Economic Policy, Lyudmila lives with her husband Nikolai. His friend Vladimir moves onto the sofa. When Nikolai goes away for work, Vladimir takes Lyudmila up in a plane and takes the bed. Nikolai comes home and sleeps on the sofa. She sleeps with both. She becomes pregnant. They send her to a private clinic for an abortion. Waiting, she sees a baby in a carriage on the street, refuses the operation, and boards a train out of Moscow. Nikolai and Vladimir are left in the flat.
Cast & crew
More about Bed and Sofa
Abram Room directed. Grigori Giber photographed it. Sovkino released it on March 15, 1927. Wikipedia gives 75 minutes. Nikolai Batalov plays Nikolai, Lyudmila Semyonova plays Lyudmila, and Vladimir Fogel plays Vladimir. The Russian title is Tretya Meshchanskaya, Third Meshchanskaya Street.
Themes
Background
The flat is a NEP-era Moscow room, with a private abortion clinic still operating.
Making
Room keeps the story inside one small flat, then opens it for the flight and the railway.
Look
Grigori Giber shot the cramped rooms and the flight over the city.
Notes
- The address in the Russian title is the flat where all three live.
- The plane ride over Moscow is the start of Vladimir's turn as the husband.
- She leaves by train rather than take the abortion.
- The English title comes from the bed and the sofa they trade.
Scenes
- Vladimir takes Lyudmila up over Moscow and Nikolai is moved to the sofa.
- She watches a baby carriage from the clinic window and takes the train instead.
