While Barnet’s film is a successful comedy, it is also an experiment in genre crossbreeding. The film begins as a sentimental tale about a naïve peasant girl named Parasha coming to town hoping to find a job. In the typical Russian melodrama, this would be the beginning of a downfall, more often than not, into prostitution. But this is not your typical Russia anymore. On the one hand, Parasha is trapped in the worst possible employment arrangement: the hairdresser who hires her turns out to be an unscrupulous exploiter. On the other hand, this is Soviet Moscow, and this is 1928, and this is early Soviet avant-garde comedy. Thus, Parasha watches and then participates in a theater show about the great French Revolution, and her political consciousness ferments like yeast, transforming the film into political agitprop rallying for unionization.

Live Musical Accompaniment by Donald Sosin