An adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s short story under the same title. A one-day long subtle psychological study of a mature, aging professor of medicine – Nikolai Stepanovich. Feeling depressed by his uselessness, the character tries in vain to find an answer to the question about the sense of his own existence.
A well-known and respected professor of medicine, tired because of lack of sleep, starts another day of his life early in the morning. Maundering around his office, he tries to analyze the values that have always served as his guidelines. He realizes that, slowly, he’s approaching the last stage of his life. He ignores the monologues of his wife with whom he has hardly anything in common. He resigns from delivering another lecture on anatomy, doubting if it makes any sense to educate his students to become doctors in the future. At dinner he ostentatiously ignores his daughter’s fiancé. In the evening, he visits Katarzyna with whom he has an affair. The professor confides in her and reveals that he feels completely defeated, doubts people and the meaning of life and that he’s totally resigned. Katarzyna leaves and the professor stays alone, deep in his thoughts.
