"Station for Two" by Emil Braginsky and Eldar Ryazanov, summary Automatic translate

The film novella was created by the creative duo in 1982. This book is a literary screenplay for a film. The text describes in detail the story of a chance encounter between a metropolitan musician and a provincial barmaid, set against the backdrop of the incessant transit bustle of a small railway station. A film of the same name was made based on this text in 1982. The film enjoyed tremendous success with audiences. It competed in the main competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top award.

Serving a sentence and a conflict in a restaurant

The action begins on a snowy winter evening. Convicts are serving their sentences in a penal colony. The officers on duty are counting the prisoners. Platon Sergeyevich Ryabinin is a gentle, shy man of about forty. A senior officer gives Platon unexpected news. His wife has come to visit him in the village. The prisoner refuses to meet her. However, the warden issues him a leave pass until the morning. Meanwhile, the officer instructs Platon to pick up an accordion being repaired by the repairman, Ivan Gerasimovich. Platon has no right to refuse. The guard on duty sternly warns the prisoner. Being late for morning roll call is considered tantamount to escape. Platon walks along the snowy road through the wind, recalling the events of last summer.

That summer, Platon was traveling on an express train to the town of Griboyedov. At Zastupinsk station, the pianist entered the station restaurant with his "briefcase." He refused to eat the daily lunch. The musician found the borscht and cutlet inedible. The waitress, Vera, demanded a bill of 1 ruble 20 kopecks. Platon stood his ground. He refused to pay for the uneaten food. Vera blocked his way. She called police lieutenant Nikolasha. Because of this argument, the train departed without Platon. Ryabinin gave the money to Vera. The offended woman threw the change right onto the platform asphalt.

Loss of passport and night wanderings

A little later, Vera’s familiar conductor, Andrei, arrived to visit. The train had been stopped for only a few minutes. The couple decided to retire to their compartment. Andrei asked Platon to guard two suitcases containing Chardzhui melons. As a precaution, the conductor confiscated the musician’s passport. The lovers quarreled in the carriage. Vera ran out onto the platform. The train departed with Andrei and the false document. Ryabinin was furious. Without a passport, the man was refused entry to the local hotel.

Platon called home in Moscow. Vera overheard the conversation and learned of the musician’s predicament. Ryabinin confessed to Vera that he had violated his travel restrictions. He had taken the blame for a fatal traffic accident. The crime had been committed by his wife, a TV presenter. The pianist secretly left the capital. He wanted to see his elderly father one last time before the trial. Vera realized she was indirectly responsible for Platon’s plight and decided to help the undocumented passenger.

The waitress tried to get Platon into a room reserved for foreign tourists. Marina, the duty officer, flatly refused. A friend, Lieutenant Nikolasha, also couldn’t get him into a cell. The bars were occupied by female detainees. Vera and Platon spent the night on the hard benches in the waiting room. The woman pulled the remains of a restaurant banquet from her bag. The new acquaintances staged an impromptu "wedding," drinking champagne straight from the bottle. In the morning, Platon discovered his wallet was missing. It had been robbed by thieves at the station that night.

Market trading and musical dinner

Ryabinin was left penniless. Vera took the suitcases of melons to a reseller named "Uncle Misha." Uncle Misha forced the cultured pianist to sell fruit at the collective farm market. Platon sold the melons for a ruble and a half per kilogram. He endured the harsh insults of disgruntled customers. Vera, who had arrived, deftly manipulated the market crowd. She provoked a quarrel with the neighbors at the stall. A waitress tricked the tomato seller into buying all the melons wholesale. The couple didn’t make any money, but they were relieved of a heavy burden.

That evening, Vera invited Platon to dinner at a restaurant. She intended to pay with her own money. She ordered cognac and Kyiv chicken from her colleague Violetta. Ryabinin went to the director’s office. There, he turned on the television and checked the weather forecast. His beautiful wife was hosting the program. The musician was finally convinced of his wife’s selfishness. She calmly allowed him to go to prison for the sake of his career. At the restaurant table, Platon sat down at the piano. He played a Chopin nocturne. The restaurant musician, Shurik, allowed Platon to play requests for the audience. The pianist earned enough money to pay the bill.

Reconciliation on the platform and a Siberian date

That night, the couple wandered along the railroad tracks. Vera led the pianist into an empty, soft-seat carriage. They kissed. The woman and man spent the night in adjacent compartments, conversing through the thin partition. Vera frankly confessed her sincere feelings to Platon.

In the morning, Andrei, the conductor, entered the restaurant. He brought new suitcases of Austrian boots. The conductor returned Platon’s passport. A fight immediately broke out between the men. The large Andrei easily beat the cultured musician. Vera decisively ended her affair with Andrei. She bought Platon a ticket for a shared carriage to the town of Griboyedov. The couple said goodbye on the bridge over the tracks. Platon boarded the departing train. At the last moment, he jumped off the step and ran back to the crying Vera.

The action returns to the events of the winter night. After walking nine kilometers through a blizzard, Platon found the hut of Ivan Gerasimovich, the craftsman. The man took the repaired accordion. Ryabinin headed to the address on Lesnaya Street. In the illuminated room of the wooden house, a lavish table was set. Instead of his wife from the capital, Vera entered the room. The waitress had come to visit her beloved in cold Siberia. She fed the hungry Platon chicken broth, cutlets with potatoes, and apple pie. The lovers spent a happy night, discussing their future life together and buying a piano.

A desperate journey to the colony’s gates

In the morning, Platon and Vera woke up in a panic. The clock showed twenty to seven. Being late threatened Ryabinin with an extended prison sentence. They ran out of the hut and raced down the road. Vera took the heavy accordion from the man. She carried the musical instrument on her shoulders. Platon fell in the snow, refusing to go any further due to complete exhaustion. An attempt to flag down a passing GAZik failed. A passenger in a dark coat refused to carry the convict.

The colony gates were just a few meters away. The clock struck eight. Vera forced the exhausted Platon to open his case. The frozen pianist lay down in the snow. He stretched the bellows of his instrument. The morning roll call had ended in the camp. The duty officer reported Ryabinin’s disappearance to his superior. Suddenly, the sounds of music drifted through the frosty air to the parade ground. The senior officer listened to the melody. He reported with relief: "No, he’s here! He’s back!"