Parents’ Day

A father is anticipating the visit of his teenage daughter whom he has last seen as a baby. Now the girl is coming to the city to take university exams, and he invites her to stay with his new family – his wife and young daughter. As the memories of the first love affair and the emotional turmoil caused by it come flooding into the man’s mind, his wife displays signs of acute jealousy. When the girl finally arrives – a beautiful, naïve and unspoiled creature showing tremendous physical resemblance to her father – the bond between the man and the girl becomes apparent, and the wife feels threatened.
In casting Victor Proskurin as a confused but caring father, trying to address the demons of his past, Proskurina places a very charismatic character in the centre of the story. Victor Proskurin enhances this role with his natural appeal, understated but powerful display of emotions and captivating screen presence. Each of the three female characters project their love for him, creating a complex human microcosm of unresolved tensions and psychological challenges.
Proskurina’s directing is confident, intelligent and mature. In this début short Proskurina follows into the steps of her teacher Ilya Averbakh, whose psychological dramas Monolog (1972) and Other People’s Letters (1975) set the standards of the genre in the Soviet cinema of the time. (MB)