User Reviews

A young and a middle-aged couple befriend each other in a summer datcha which belongs to neither of them, they've just sneaked into it and this generates a sense of comradery. The young lovers are still in the process of becoming acquainted to each other and adopt the older ones as role-models. The former never come to know that the latter are clandestine lovers leading separate lives at home because he can conceive no way how to get out of his existing matrimonial ties. The movie functions as a strong allegory about societal lies young people are lured into. I was particularly impressed in the first half by the contrast of the older's relaxed cheerfulness to the younger's bewildered hauntedness and in the second half by the portrayal of the passion with which the woman loves the married man. It is depicted alternately as leaving her empty and as an irresistible means of enduring life.