THE TUNER

Andrej is a piano-tuner; he lives in a tower-room and has a rather eccentric and demanding lover. No wonder the young man strives to improve his social standing – especially since his job affords him the opportunity to enter the houses of more or less well-off customers and study their style and décor. One day he is called to see Anna Sergejevna. The old lady and her lap dog Mikki live in a spacious home – being cared for by the voluptuous nurse Ljuba, whom she is also friends with. Apart from her patient’s well-being, Ljuba is also concerned with her own lack of a husband. When Andrej comes to the house, the two women are smitten – especially since the charmer can converse so nicely and plays the piano as well. When he retrieves Ljuba’s money from a marriage swindler, gets rid of the lady from the local tax-office and lends a helping hand when Anna Sergejevna wins the lottery, the two women decide to help him out of his financial woes. The film – photographed in black-and-white and based on narratives by Arkady Koshko – gives its characters ample room and time to develop, while the story about middle-class subjects like money, love and loneliness is told casually and sometimes resembles a Chekhovian family-drama turned into a modern farce.