Der ältere Sohn

The plot of the film doesn't seem to be exciting at first glance: two students are late for the last commuter train and have to spend a night in a strange town. They rack their brains about where to find shelter and quite by chance they overhear a talk between father and son. The son is an adolescent who is head over heels in love with a girl several years his senior. He is living through the first drama of his life though his love is just puppy love. Then, being resourceful fellows, they think of a plan to pass one of them for the elder son of this family. The reason they give for his unexpected arrival is that he is a child of the father's long-forsaken love. They presume this cock-and-bull story will come off, and right they are! But the adventure aimed at getting a shelter for one night turns into a lasting relation. The father turns out to be a musician with a heart of gold, he feels ashamed for having no part in his "elder son's" upbringing, wants to compensate for it. And strange though it may seem the adventurer also changes: he helps his younger "brother" to sort out his feelings, saves his "sister" from marriage with a cur, protects his "father" when that cur calls him a madman. He BECOMES the elder son of the family. The film is very Russian: it is both funny and tragic. It lacks "action" but it doesn't lack in deep insight into a human soul.