doesn't make sense..1.I don't consider Tanya's family poor.. her family live in an apartment equipped with a color TV set(so big it can't be B/W), a refrigerator,a telephone. those are things you still can't easily get in many developing countries today.I don't know the details in Soviet, I guess it's about average. anyway ,80% people in the world were poorer than that at the time. Tanya is a naive woman which I can accept as reality..but don't qualify her in poverty or even underpaid.maybe I underestimated Soviet's economy..I heard the clothes are expensive, but why do women care so much about clothes.. super superficial!2.I don't feel, I don't see too many things going wrong in Sweden. nobody despises her as the film shows,nobody knows she is a prostitute,except one guy who seems to be her former client,she can't handle that? but wasn't she so composed working as a prostitute.why has she suddenly become fragile?when she was in st Petersburg, she was kind of materialistic in a naive way. but after she came to Sweden, she suddenly(again) became a bit feminist. unhappy with anything. actually she doesn't look or behave really materialist at all throughout the entire film.so,I can't see why she is being a decent and loving woman then all of sudden wants the newest fashion clothes....it's quite self-contradictory if she don't like Sweden, she can just leave, nobody forces her. she also slaps her husband for just mumbling to her what she is....after finished the whole 144 minute, I still can't get her personality , very volatile.I can only reckon a few words, naivety, materialism ,drunk, stupiditysorry soviet movies weren't as good such as Polish movies, Romanian movies.it's probably due to more strict governmental control.. both Tanya and her mother are miscast. the actress who plays Tanya always gives me an impression as a slightly naughty housewife.... as for the mother who is a school teacher. but when she is in the school. her behavior reminds me of a dominatrix! she can't be so "old fashioned" to commit suicide..at last let's all hope such tragedy happen less in life

One of best post-perestroika Russian movies. A girl becomes a prostitute, then gets a chance to leave Russia and have a normal family. But it's beyond her. Longing for motherland, not very friendly strangers around, no love, no mom, all of this leads her to death (presumably).Elena Yakovleva is at her best as always. She is so perfect, so real. And so Russian :)In general it's not really very interesting movie, just a glance into Russia after perestroika, when so many things got ruined. And maybe in a way a hint to those so many girls leaving Russia in search for better life. There is no place like home, you know...I advise to watch it, I watched it yesterday and it was so nice, so many flashbacks. Mind you, now Russia has changed drastically since then. Still one of best movies made after perestroika, we haven't got that many nice movies yet as in Soviet time, whatever they say, but majority of Russians long for that time, when everything was so simple and stable. When state took care of citizens (OK OK sometimes maybe overtook) and didn't just rob them as now.As for the previous comment - yes, Ingeborga is a good actress. And Lithuanian, so what, unlike some other countries (we know yes what we are talking about), we always welcome all people, not depending on their nationality. Russians just don't care if Lithuanian or Georgian, we have a lot and it's normal. There is no bad feeling. OK, Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore, but we don't blame any other nationality in our problems :-P