Station for Two (1982)

Train Station for Two tells the story of two people, Planton and Vera, who meet at a train station and through hilarious mishaps start to fall in love with each other. These mishaps only serve to stress Planton even more, but he finds happiness in the situation with Vera. However, they are unfortunately reminded of their depressing situation at every turn and cannot afford to forget their reality – Planton's impending trial for a crime he did not commit and a subsequent stay in jail, and Vera with her low-paying job, struggling to make ends meet and raise a child after her divorce. This is a very unique film in that it is comedic, yet bittersweet. Although they come from opposing backgrounds Planton and Vera are able to form a solid relationship that doesn't feel contrived and by the end of the film there is still some hope to be found for them. This film also shows integral parts of Soviet life wonderfully with Andrei's profiteering from melons to shoes and the inequality experienced by many people. The role of the train station in this film is pivotal and in the final scenes when Planton and Vera are desperately trying to get back on time it feels like they have finally been freed from the monotony of the train station. The ending scene was very impactful because it was able to condense all of the feeling of the film into this one scene where we have a bittersweet moment when Vera visits Planton, which then turns into a comedic moment as they race to make it back to the prison on time. Train Station for Two is a excellent film that manages to not be cliché for its genre.

Riazanov's Railway Station for Two is a delightfully unique work that jumps between triviality and complexity with a certain grace. On the one hand, the film is a dark comedy about a man for whom nothing goes right, a walking Murphy's law. On the other hand, it is a classic melodramatic romance about a working class woman and a member of the intelligentsia. However, the film is much more than either of these clichés. There is a wonderfully crafted development of relationship at play: over the course of the two or three short days depicted, one is well convinced that these two people have progressed from viciously bickering strangers to being truly in love. Riazanov manages to draw for the viewer the contrasting and overlapping struggles of these disaffected members of opposite social classes with a subtlety that might have been painfully overbearing in the hands of a different director. There are striking sociopolitical aspects to this film as well – casual depiction of the black market, references to the issues of profiteering and shortages, and even outright criticism of communism are remarkable, at least in contrast with earlier Soviet work. The clash of gender equality and tradition also comes into play at several times in the course of the film's brief love affair. All of these themes are dealt with in a wonderfully delicate way, accenting a sometimes saturnine and sometimes playful love story. Elements of Riazanov's style are reminiscent of early Soviet cinema – pressing psychological burdens, long and pregnant silences – in manner that is unfortunately sometimes alienating. The ending sequence in particular, divorced from the train station in which so much of the story occurs, is downright bizarre and troublesomely off-tempo from the rest of the film. The majority of Station for Two, however, is a well-wrought balance of social commentary and bleakly-humorous romance.

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i watch the actors, lyudmila as vera in particular, and i wish they could make more films that i could access. meryl streep, whom i like very much, hasn't got a thing on lyudmila; this is one vibrant and vivid actress with a face the camera loves to love.the movie seemed very french to me; my wife thought Italian. at any rate it is not an American film. the sensibility is far more oblique and understated. i recall a stephen rea film about the ussr where he is a detective tracking down a serial killer; i think that movie really tries to portray what life must be like in Russia, but finally it is really just a cliché when compared to this film. this movie breathes 'other' and we must switch gears to attempt to see who these folk are and what they are about. a very fine bit of film making that satisfies all the way thru.