An affecting Russian fable about the power of hope

The Concert Ticket

IN a drab district of a city, in a country which, though not named, corresponds to Soviet-era Russia, the members of an ordinary family struggle to keep hope and some idea of beauty and possibility alive. Anna is a school teacher, worried that she is no longer attractive and that her husband Sergei doesn’t love her anymore.

Sergei is a musician, playing the tuba in a theatre orchestra. He is oppressed by the banal, state- approved music he has to play, and longs to hear music that will transport him. He is afraid that, in his 40s, he is already old.