Le suicidé

Soviet Union, late 1920s. We're in a communal building where the apartments are separated by thin partitions. In the middle of the night, Semione Semyonovich, unemployed and miserable, tries to relieve his hunger by swallowing a liver sausage. He wakes his wife, an argument breaks out and the pitiful hero disappears, threatening to breathe his last soon. His wife, convinced that he's going to take his own life, calls for help. The news spreads, attracting the whole neighborhood, and soon a whole gallery of characters is rushing to make the fateful event their own. Drawn unwillingly into this macabre dance, Sémione glimpses the posthumous glory being dangled in front of him, and ends up getting caught up in the game: by killing himself, could he finally become somebody?