SUNDAY

For civil servant Dmitry, Saturday comes to an unspectacular close. However, a little note he sees is just a wee bit foreboding: “You will die soon”, it proclaims. Then Sunday rolls around and unwelcome events start to pile up quickly. A suicide attempt by his mistress is followed by environmental protests at the site of his construction project. An odd trip to the cemetery, an unpleasant encounter with his ex-wife and daughter and his mother’s ill health combine to further darken his mood. It is only seated in his car with his chauffeur that Dmitry can get a little peace, but soon even this proves illusive. The day continues to run off the rails. Dmitry attempts to make his problems disappear by throwing money at them, rushing from stop to stop while still managing to remain aloof, laconic, pragmatic and corrupt. Until the bitter end. In an allegorical work full of concisely constructed individual scenes, Svetlana Proskurina captures progressively more absurd everyday situations in the life of a high-ranking civil servant in a markedly sober fashion. Corruption – from charming to ruthless – becomes Dmitry’s primary mode of interaction with his surroundings. Only when this corruption finally reaches its limits can he be liberated.