106 minutes
7/2/1968
Ilya Semenovich Melnikov is a history teacher in an ordinary Soviet high school. He is a very good teacher and his students and colleagues treat him with a great deal of respect. However, Melnikov faces a lot of difficulties in his work. In particular, everybody at school is spreading rumors about Natalya Sergeyevna, an Enlish language teacher and a former student of Melnikov, being in love with him. Exhausted by his mental suffering, Melnikov asks the principal to allow him to quit his job. At the end of the week that is to become the last week of Melnikov's teaching career the students of his class write an in-class essay on how they understand happiness. Svetlana Mikhailovna, their Russian teacher, is shocked by what one of the students wrote in her essay, nevertheless, she allows her to read it in front of the class. The other students express support of their classmate. Melnikov gets involved in the conflict, after which he reconsiders his decision to quit...
Vyacheslav Tikhonov
as Ilya Semyonovich Melnikov - History Teacher
Irina Pechernikova
as Natalya Sergeevna Gorelova - English Language Teacher
Nina Menshikova
as Svetlana Mikhailovna - Russian Language and Literature Teacher
Mikhail Zimin
as Nikolai Borisovich
Dalvin Shcherbakov
as Borya Rudnitskiy
Nadir Malishevsky
as TV presenter
Olga Zhizneva
as Polina Andreevna
Lyudmila Arkharova
as Nadya Ogarysheva
Valeri Zubarev
as Genka Shestopal
Olga Ostroumova
as Rita Cherkasova
Igor Starygin
as Kostya Batishchev
Roza Grigoryeva
as Sveta Demidova
Yuriy Chernov
as Syromyatnikov
Lyubov Sokolova
as Levikova
Arkadi Listarov
as Vova Levikov
Nina Emelyanova
as Taisiya Nikolayevna (as N. Yemelyanova)
German Kachin
as Igor Stepanovich
Klavdiya Lepanova
as Klavdiya Sergeevna
Sofya Garrel
as Raisa Pavlovna
Nina Emelyanova
as Taisiya Nikolaevna
Valentina Telegina
as school nanny
Nina Grebeshkova
as Allochka
Sofiya Pilyavskaya
as Teacher
Yakov Lents
as Elderly Geography Teacher
Viktor Markin
as Teacher