We'll Live Till Monday, directed by Stanislav Rostotsky, is a 1968 Soviet film. Set in a Moscow school, it examines the relationships and tensions between staff and students in said establishment.
This is another one of those movies which just had to be produced in black-and-white, as the monochrome makes for a certain ascetic quality, as well as offering scope for some effective imagery and symbolism.
The central character in this drama is the history teacher Melnikov. He appears sour, careworn, abrupt and something of an outsider with his colleagues.
A notable feature of this film for me is the irreverence of some of the main players and their dialogue. It is good that we have the chance to see these films. They show a side of the USSR which some people cannot conceive of. The same dynamics, concerns and conflicts existed in Soviet institutions as they did in their Western equivalents. It may be that the school was intended as a microcosm of tensions and upheavals in wider Soviet society. People were striving for means of self-expression and autonomy, testing the boundaries perhaps.
It also occurred to me that the school portrayed here was less rigid and regimented than my own alma mater in England....
Throughout there are subtle commentaries and observations concerning Soviet educational and cultural matters, often delivered with some sarcasm or cynicism.
I liked the sets and the bleak-ish sense of realism in this picture, and in general there is a sense of refinement and elegance which truly appealed to me. No big portentous themes, just an intelligent and endearing piece of film-making, containing fine acting from many of those involved.
Perhaps the most intriguing quote from the film - "Happiness is to be understood"....
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