'Bed and Sofa (Russian: Третья Мещанская) is the English name of a 1927 Soviet silent film originally released in the Soviet Union as Tretya meshchanskaya, and is sometimes referred to as The Third Meschanskaya. In addition to the title, Bed and Sofa it was also released outside of the Soviet Union under the alternate titles of Three in a Cellar, Old Dovecots, and Cellars of Moscow. The film gets its Russian title from the street on which the main characters live, Third Meshchanskaia Street.

Directed by Abram Room and written by Room and Viktor Shklovsky, the film starred Nikolai Batalov as the husband, Kolia, Lyudmila Semyonova as the wife, Liuda, and Vladimir Fogel as the friend, Volodia. Billed as a satire and comedy, Bed and Sofa nonetheless portrayed the realities of the Moscow working poor, while also dealing with starkly sexual situations, such as polygamy and abortion. It was originally banned in both the United States and Europe due to those stark sexual situations.

The screenplay was supposedly based on the true love story of the acclaimed Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky who lived with his "muse" Lilya Brik and her husband Osip Brik for some years. The characters themselves also resembled the trio, with Vladimir Fogel as Mayakovsky, Lyudmila Semyonova as Lilya and Nikolai Batalov as Osip Brik. The parallels were so obvious that some critics and associates accused Viktor Shklovsky of indelicacy and gossiping. Shklovsky himself never openly admitted it, yet in his diaries he mentions that during the work on the screenplay they were living next to Mayakovsky and Lilya Brik, which is an obvious hint.

While movies made in the USSR would soon be regulated to the ideals of Soviet realism, some films at this time were able to present starker themes. Even so, Bed and Sofa was controversial at the time of release in the Soviet Union, due to its focus on human relationships, while the state and the party are almost completely disregarded. In fact, at one point Kolya even declines to go to a Party meeting. In addition, the film's resolution is ambiguous and comes about without any input from the collective.

However, it is now considered a landmark film because of humor, naturalism, and its sympathetic portrayal of the woman.

Cast
Nikolai Batalov as Kolia, the husband
Lyudmila Semyonova as Liuda, the wife
Vladimir Fogel as Volodia, the friend
Leonid Yurenyov as The Porter
Yelena Sokolova as The Nurse
Mariya Yarotskaya

Themes
The film is viewed as a brilliant psychological chamber drama that lay bare the dysfunctions and contradiction of early Soviet society. From the opening shot, we know that we are not going to see a schematic narrative about enthusiastic revolutionaries. The film is a frank portrayal of sexual manners of the 1920s, as well as the living conditions in Moscow in the time, which are in sharp contrast to the official picture of a state where everything was to be the perfect idyll of Soviet life. Abram Room had intended not only to make a picture exploring the social problems of urban life during the last years of the New Economic Policy (1921–28), but specifically to support the state's campaign against the sexual freedom of the revolutionary years and against abortion on demand.

Production
Like many early Soviet directors, Abram Room (1894–1976) had come to the cinema along a circuitous path. A physician specializing in psychiatry and neurology, he served as a medical officer with the Red Army during the Russian civil war that followed the revolutions of 1917. Originally from Lithuania, Room decided to stay in Moscow after demobilization and began to work in the Theater of the Revolution.

Instead of following in the footsteps of other Soviet directors like Eisenstein and glorifying the struggles of the masses, Room produced a film with only three principals.

The film was shot on location in Moscow. The acting is highly naturalistic, complementing Room's objective camera. There is a good deal of the use of mirrors and blocking of characters to emphasize mood and the narrative thrust. The triangle is often depicted visually as well, with the two men on-screen while Liuda's picture on the wall hovers between them. When matters reach their head, Liuda significantly removes the picture from the frame and places it back on the wall, signaling an abrupt change in the relationship, this time for good.

Release
Because of negative publicity prior to its release, the film was released under an alternate title, Ménage à trois, on 15 March 1927.



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