Handlung

Middle-aged university professor desperately tries to strike a balance in his life between his wife and his mistress, slowly getting bogged down in his own lies.

Andrey Pavlovich Buzykin, who makes a living by teaching at an institute and translating English literature, is cheating on his wife. Buzykin's main problem is that he's a kind man with a weak character. The lies he is telling his wife all the time are inconvincing, but he never has the courage to tell her the truth. His lover, Alla, is aware of his family life, but gets offended when, for example, he cannot meet her so that he doesn't come home late, or when he doesn't want to go home in a new jacket she gives him to avoid having to explain to his wife. Alla and Nina, Andrei's wife, both leave him, forgive him, and return to him at the same time, and Andrei continues with this kind of life, full of suffering and deceit. Finally, both women are so fed up with his lies that they don't believe him even when he is telling the truth...—Denis Chebikin <chebikin@mit.edu>

Kind and sympathetic Andrey Buzykin, in order not to offend anyone, tries to help everyone. But the situations in which he finds himself are becoming more complex, and most importantly - to such an extent that Buzykin already feels himself literally torn apart. His wife leaves him. His mistress leaves him as well. He decides to become a different person .—Bazza the Beast