Smoke

Love and politics dissipate like vapor in this satirical and cynical look at Russian expatriates in a German spa town. Turgenev skewers the pretensions and empty rhetoric of the intellectual elite with sharp, observational wit. Amidst the social games, a man finds himself haunted by a past passion that threatens to consume his future. It is a sophisticated exploration of the illusory nature of both social progress and romantic devotion.