In a remote village in Karelia, Sergeant Vaskov commands an anti-aircraft unit that protects a rail depot. While his men are transferred to the front line, he is reprimanded for their unruly behavior. He retorts that he wants replacements that aren't drunks or womanizers. In response, he is assigned a unit made up entirely of young women, fresh from training.

While vacationing in the countryside at his childhood home, a woman suddenly reveals to her husband that she is expecting a child – but not his.

2011 film directed by Aleksandr Sokurov

Elena is a woman of a certain age, living in a chic Moscow apartment with her wealthy businessman husband Vladimir. While Vladimir is estranged from his daughter, he does not mask his contempt for Elena's own child, who seems to be in constant need of financial assistance. When Vladimir suddenly falls ill and his volatile, nihilistic daughter comes back into the picture, Elena must hatch a plan for her own survival.

1962 film by Andrei Tarkovsky

1965 film directed by David Lean

The relationships among two pre-pubescent brothers and their estranged father are tested on a trip into the Russian wilderness.