Simple Things 2007

Dr. Sergey Maslov, Sergey Puskepalis, is a struggling anesthesiologist in Saint Petersburg who confronts a cascade of troubles: a failed surgery, friction with a nurse, and a suspended driver’s license. His personal life frays as his daughter runs away and his wife presses for a baby despite their crowded communal apartment, amplifying the sense that every corner of his world is closing in. In this tense urban setting, Sergey must navigate a growing pressure cooker of professional and domestic strain, all while trying to keep his career—and his family—afloat.

Sergey is then offered a stark, morally jagged opportunity: to provide home pain relief to Vladimir Zhuravlyov, Leonid Bronevoy, a once-popular actor whose gruff exterior masks a more vulnerable, earnest humanity. The two men form an uneasy bond as Zhuravlyov presents Sergey with a controversial proposition: he will grant Sergey access to a valuable painting if Sergey agrees to help him in an euthanasia scenario. At first, Sergey refuses, but the weight of Zhuravlyov’s plea—paired with the swelling burdens of his own life—nudges him toward a reluctant yes. He administers only a sedative, hoping to sidestep a greater moral catastrophe, yet the evaluation of the painting seems to undercut any sense of a simple victory: the artwork appears nearly worthless, and the decision to help is suddenly fraught with legal and investigative concerns.

As police attention intensifies, Zhuravlyov remains alive and lucid, and he openly defuses the crisis, clearing Sergey of suspicion. The two men reach a quiet reconciliation, their burdens momentarily shared and softened by the human connection that grew between them. The film’s emotional center widens as Sergey’s personal life takes another dramatic turn: he glimpses his daughter on the street, chases after her, and is struck by a car. He awakens in the apartment of her partner, Ivan Osipov Pyotr, where a new, fragile peace begins to form around their evolving relationships and the impending child.

In the final, quiet tableau, Sergey and Pyotr sit side by side, waiting at a playground for their pregnant partners to join them. The scene lingers on the fragile threads that connect love, responsibility, and the moral costs of care, suggesting that every choice—professional or personal—carries consequences that ripple outward into the lives of those we love. The film holds to a restrained, humanist tone, slowly revealing how bonds can be tested, repaired, and redefined in the face of hardship.