Moi syn (My Son). 1928. USSR. Directed by Yevgeni Cherviakov. Screenplay by Cherviakov, Nikolai Dirin, Iuri Gromov, Viktor Turin. With Gennadii Michurin, Anna Sten, Piotr Beriozov. Silent. World premiere. Silent. Russian intertitles; English subtitles. 49 min.
Believed lost during World War II until its rediscovery in 2008 as two 16mm reels in Argentina’s Museum of Cinema, My Son represents one of the most significant recent archival recoveries in Russian cinema. Yevgeni Cherviakov’s masterwork illuminates a crucial but previously obscured strand of Soviet filmmaking: the existential-psychological current that developed alongside the era’s dominant constructivist and montage movements.
The narrative, revolutionary for its time, centers on a domestic rather than political crisis: Olga Surina’s confession to her husband Andrey that their newborn child belongs to another man. Through this intimate framing, Cherviakov crafts a sophisticated exploration of masculine identity and social transformation in the early Soviet period. The film’s treatment of infidelity, jealousy, and forgiveness marks a significant departure from the collective heroics typical of 1920s Soviet production, offering instead a deeply personal meditation on changing social values.
Anna Sten’s nuanced performance as Olga—one of her last Soviet roles before Samuel Goldwyn brought her to Hollywood—exemplifies the emerging naturalistic acting style that distinguished Soviet cinema of this period. Gennadii Michurin’s portrayal of Andrey’s internal struggle similarly reflects Cherviakov’s commitment to psychological authenticity over ideological didacticism.
Restored by the George Eastman Museum in collaboration with Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken with funding from the Packard Humanities Institute.