His wife is a good woman who loves him, and does not deserve in any way to be abandoned. The two women are all in all the victims of his incapacity to live, to choose, to be faithful, sincere, and coherent. At that stage, there can only be much sorrow for everybody. The man, following his passion, very soon finds himself with two women, a situation with no way out. Then, Ryazanov shows us what he really does, as a coward, or as a hypocrite. He would like, he should, he wants, but he is weak and unable to do it. At this purpose the director shows us flashes of his imagination, when he imagines what he would like to do in that moment, which sometimes would be really right. Moreover, we can see a constant comparison between what he thinks and should be, and what he is and does in reality. Their mistakes are pointed at without pity, sincerely, especially the mistakes and the cowardice of the man.
The characters are depicted in a very realistic and human way.
But I like it very much, because it is very well done, and it is. Unlike other films of the director, it runs seldom in television, and never in prime time. It is funny that my favourite Ryazanov's film is one of the lest popular in Russia.
