If there was one allowable criticism one could make for A Railway Station for Two it would be the pace at which the main character, Platon Ryabinin, transforms himself from a "city-slicker" to a man quite comfortable with his surroundings in about no time at all. Even so, it's eminently forgivable when the romance between Vera and Platon is contingent on Ryabinin's adaptability, and the exposure the film gives to a detailed picture of Soviet life and its many idiosyncrasies.
Although the love story is predominately what drives the pace and rhythm of the film, other sub-themes regularly permeate the main story. Profiteering, the law and justice or the lack thereof, and social stances on gender equality dominate. Irony such as the following suffuses the story line: "Life depends not on those who are in charge, but those on duty." Or "why do you want to know what you'd better not know?" And then there is the acceptance of the vagaries and injustices of life: "Good people are always unlucky."
The story explores with a light, comedic touch two people from wildly different backgrounds, a pianist and a waitress, who meet accidentally at a train station. Platon is on his way to Siberia after taking the rap for a car accident in which his wife hits and kills a man who was possibly suicidal anyway. Vera 's husband has just walked out on her after committing adultery and announcing it on the apartment building's intercom. She then takes up with a black market profiteer until she and Platon meet. Their relationship becomes a study in how people from opposing backgrounds can still fall in love and take a chance despite the heartbreaks life throws at them.
What is critical to this beautifully rendered film is that despite the difficulties inherent In Soviet everyday life because of the system, everyone holds no grudges and tries to work together to overcome the bureaucratic stupidities. The film's most explicit point is that no one knows what anything, including themselves, is really worth to someone else. Whether its melons, carburetors or love, anything is possible in this witty, sometimes sad, and ultimately triumphant film.
Although the love story is predominately what drives the pace and rhythm of the film, other sub-themes regularly permeate the main story. Profiteering, the law and justice or the lack thereof, and social stances on gender equality dominate. Irony such as the following suffuses the story line: "Life depends not on those who are in charge, but those on duty." Or "why do you want to know what you'd better not know?" And then there is the acceptance of the vagaries and injustices of life: "Good people are always unlucky."
The story explores with a light, comedic touch two people from wildly different backgrounds, a pianist and a waitress, who meet accidentally at a train station. Platon is on his way to Siberia after taking the rap for a car accident in which his wife hits and kills a man who was possibly suicidal anyway. Vera 's husband has just walked out on her after committing adultery and announcing it on the apartment building's intercom. She then takes up with a black market profiteer until she and Platon meet. Their relationship becomes a study in how people from opposing backgrounds can still fall in love and take a chance despite the heartbreaks life throws at them.
What is critical to this beautifully rendered film is that despite the difficulties inherent In Soviet everyday life because of the system, everyone holds no grudges and tries to work together to overcome the bureaucratic stupidities. The film's most explicit point is that no one knows what anything, including themselves, is really worth to someone else. Whether its melons, carburetors or love, anything is possible in this witty, sometimes sad, and ultimately triumphant film.