The Live Corpse

A tense domestic drama unfolds in a modest Moscow apartment, where a matriarch, her daughter Lisa, and a host of relatives and servants grapple with the fallout of a crumbling marriage. The mother‑in‑law, Anna Pávlovna, watches with a mixture of relief and bitterness as Lisa contemplates leaving her husband, Theodore “Fédya” Protásov, while the younger sister Sásha tries to defend the man’s reputation despite whispered rumors of infidelity.

The conversation spirals from accusations of financial greed to the prospect of new love, hinting at the longstanding, unspoken affection between Lisa and her childhood friend Victor Karénin. As a note arrives announcing Karénin’s imminent visit, the household’s fragile equilibrium teeters, promising further revelations about loyalty, desire, and the hidden currents that bind—or break—a family.