A Long Happy Life 1966

The film, based on a screenplay by Gennady Shpalikov, is set in the town of N., a place that feels like one of the many young towns that sprang up across Siberia. After a Saturday work shift, a group of ambitious young construction workers heads home. Their bus stops abruptly, its headlights sweeping over a suitcase and a bag lying in the road. A new passenger, Viktor Kirill Lavrov, boards and sits beside Lena Inna Gulaya. He introduces himself in quick, shifting turns—as a geologist separated from his group and, at other moments, as a foreign spy. It soon becomes clear that Viktor is an engineer returning to his hometown of Kuibyshev after a three-month expedition. The pair slowly deepens their connection, trading memories of pivotal moments: Lena recalls learning to swim, while Viktor fondly remembers life on a high-altitude station during childhood.

The bus arrives in N. and stops near the local cultural club, where a Moscow Art Theatre troupe is in town performing The Cherry Orchard. Lena, who is organizing the event, invites Viktor to attend. He is briefly overwhelmed by interruptions from Lena’s acquaintances, but eventually joins the performance in the second act. In the intermission, the two reconnect, and their conversation grows richer and more intimate. Their dialogue, often reminiscent of Chekhovian characters, moves to weighty themes: Lena admits a fear of “living an empty life,” while Viktor speaks of needing to discover “something bright and true.”

As their bond strengthens, Viktor, who describes himself as a “free man,” expresses a desire to embark on a journey with Lena “in any direction.” Lena responds that she would go “anywhere” with him. Yet the following morning shifts the mood: Lena arrives at Viktor’s floating base with her suitcase and her three-year-old daughter, and Viktor is visibly unsettled. Their breakfast at an outdoor café feels strained and unsettled, and Viktor withdraws under the pretext of making a phone call, never to return. He departs the town by bus toward the airport, his gaze fixed on a barge slowly drifting down the river—the image echoing the unresolved tension lingering between them.