ABSTRACT
In his recent film Window to Paris 1 (1994) the Russian director Yurii Mamin gave an insightful interpretation of the issues currently affecting young people in Russia as they form new work and family relations. Nikolai Nikolaevich, a penniless but inspiring music and literature teacher, obliged to work in a school for the children of the business community (whose classroom walls are dominated by giant foreign currency notes), discovers in the wardrobe of his new room in a communal flat, a door that leads straight from St Petersburg to Paris. He decides to share his secret with his pupils and take them on a unique day-trip to Paris. After various adventures, in the course of which he becomes separated from the children, he discovers that the magic opening will soon close for the next twenty years. After a frantic search, he stumbles upon the children, who are earning money by dancing in a square. Having savoured the delights of Paris, they declare that they have no intention of going back to miserable St Petersburg:
