Aleksandr Vampilov (1937–1972)

Alexander Vampilov is not well known to the English speaking audience - which is a pity. His plays have something of Chekhov in them - they transcend time and place in ways that makes them very Russian and not Russian at the same time. BBC 4's adaptation of The Elder Son managed to keep most of that charm better than I expected.

Two young men, who do not know each other very well, find themselves in a bit of a trouble - they escort two girls home in the evening and manage to miss the last train back to town - thus getting stuck in the suburbs. They start knocking on doors to see if someone will allow them to stay for the night - with predictable results. Until a chance encounter allows them to overhear some names and almost by mistake one of them, Volodya, claims that he is the previously unknown oldest son of a local man. Some more creative thinking and overhearing things and the father is convinced. The men have a place to sleep, the plan is to just sneak out the next morning and never to be seen again... and then things don't work exactly like that.

The family Volodya crashes is in the middle of huge turmoil - the daughter is about to be married and to move away, the younger brother is in love with a neighbor and it is not going well so he is about to leave as well. Except that noone is leaving for the right reasons. And things keep unraveling.

This is technically a comedy but as with most good comedies, it ends up being a lot more. It is an exploration of the family one is born into and the family one chooses to be a part of. Volodya may have started looking for a warm place to sleep but he ends up with what he had been missing his whole life.

The original was written in 1967, the adaptation was done in 2021. I had watched a movie based on the original play years ago (the Russian one from 1976 (there is also a US one from 2006, moving all the characters to USA and changing some details which I had not watched)). And all of the ones I had seen work very well (well, yes, these days there are Ubers and taxis in most places but... there are still small towns where things are still not working that fast). I loved this adaptation - it is fairly close to the original play and it keeps all of the important things and more importantly, it managed to keep the atmosphere of the play.… (plus d'informations)