The Confidant

Adam and Eva love each other but the times are conspiring to prevent them from fulfilling their dreams. So the new husband decides to take a job that will secure an apartment for the happy couple – but might also break them apart. On top of that, he’s carrying a burden that could, if the authorities wish it, turn against him and his loved ones. Set in a period when even liking Led Zeppelin didn’t mean that people could joke with you about the Soviet Union, this dramatic story presents a typical hero who, although he yields to the advantages associated with working as a secret agent, tries to maintain a limit: to accept things that help him and his family but that don’t hurt others. Given the nature of his profession, however, this isn’t entirely possible, and so sooner or later he can expect to discover, with regret, whose life he turned upside down in order to live more contentedly. The picture shows its protagonist as an essentially good person, emphasizing the compromises demanded by the times, and why so many were willing to make them. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)