A Big Family 1954

The film follows the Zhurbin family, a multigenerational shipbuilding clan who live under one roof. Grandfather Matvei, Sergei Lukyanov, anchors the home alongside his son Ilya Matveyevich, [Boris Andreyev], and Ilya’s four sons — Viktor, [Sergei Kurilov], Konstantin, [Boris Bityukov], Anton, [Vadim Medvedev], and Alexei, [Aleksei Batalov] — plus Ilya’s youngest daughter Antonina. The second son, Anton, returns from Leningrad to introduce a new ship assembly method, signaling a shift in the family’s traditional craft. Meanwhile, Viktor, a master model-maker, works to design a universal machine for constructing ship models, a gleam of modernization cutting across the old routines. Alexei, a figure with a notably complex character, stands at the center of the film’s most demanding narrative strands. Katya Travnikova, [Yelena Dobronravova], the fiancée of Alexei, becomes entangled with a club director who abandons her after learning she is pregnant. Alexei forgives her and welcomes her back, along with her child.

As the story unfolds, the household must cope with deeper changes. Viktor’s wife, Lida, [Klara Luchko], leaves, leaving a sense of alienation in a home where every day revolves around shipbuilding. With the shipyard undergoing reorganizing, many family members are forced to adapt to new professions and new ways of thinking. Ilya Zhurbin struggles to keep pace, even attempting to learn algebra to remain relevant in a changing world. Tensions rise between Ilya and his longtime friend and foreman Basmanov, [Nikolai Sergeyev], who believes their era of hands-on expertise has passed. Through these trials, the Zhurbin family confronts the delicate balance between tradition and innovation, and the personal transformations that come with a world in flux. Aunt Liza, [Tatyana Pelttser], appears as a subtle presence, reminding the family of roots and memory amid change.

In the end, the film portrays a family navigating ambition, love, and responsibility within a landscape where progress challenges convention, yet where forgiveness and resilience help them redefine what it means to belong to a family built on work, loyalty, and shared history.