Ivan Okhlobystin’s "Moth" (A Brief Summary)

The play and screenplay "Moth," created in 2016, is a mystical drama with a surreal intertwining of the destinies of people with criminal pasts around an innocent child in a time-warped space. In 2017, director Konstantin Khudyakov adapted Ivan Okhlobystin’s screenplay into a feature film of the same name. The film won the Alexey Samoryadov Award at the East-West International Film Festival in Orenburg.

The Lost Child and Frozen Time

Her parents leave seven-year-old Katya in the airport waiting room while they go to check in their luggage. She sits down in a chair in front of the television and closes her eyes. At that moment, the second hand on her watch stops completely. Katya is awakened by a strange noise and calls the airport information desk. The desk clerk delivers bad news: her flight to Italy has long since departed. The girl decides to walk to Moscow to find her grandmother, who lives on a street with trams.

Meanwhile, brutal criminal events unfold. Truck driver Petrovich hits his partner over the head with a heavy adjustable wrench in order to sell the truck and start a new life. A gambler named Serge loses a huge amount of money at roulette. Bandits take Serge to a construction site to pay off his debts, but he tricks them into letting him off with an empty pen and escapes. Vera, a roadside prostitute, is suffering from terminal cancer. She recently bought a property in Venice and plans to spend the rest of her life there.

Roadside encounters

Vera is driving along the highway at night and spots Katya on the side of the road. The girl is trying to save some butterflies sleeping on the asphalt. In exchange for the ride, Katya recites Nikolai Gumilyov’s poem about Lake Chad. Soon, Vera meets her employees and learns terrible news. It turns out that some clients of the boarding house have brutally beaten a girl named Mila. Vera and her friend Zoya take the victim to the hospital to see the elderly doctor, Dzhavakhir Khasanovich. The doctor examines Vera and tells her she has only hours to live.

Katya remains by the roadside overnight, under the watchful eye of the prostitute Klimova and the bodyguard Bilbo. Petrovich’s truck, which has escaped, pulls up next to them. The man inquires about her services, but notices human trafficking and becomes enraged. The trucker brutally beats Bilbo with his fists. Petrovich takes Katya into the high cab and drives away, saving the child from the bandits.

Night chase

Returning from the hospital, Vera and Zoya grab a shotgun and give chase in a jeep. Along the way, Petrovich and Katya have a heartfelt conversation. The former convict tells the girl about his harsh childhood in exile in the Urals. He loudly sings the Italian folk song "Santa Lucia." Noticing a car pursuing them, Petrovich stops near a village. He drops the girl off at a dark bus stop for her safety.

Vera overtakes the truck and opens fire on its wheels as it moves. Petrovich’s truck loses control, crashes at high speed into a concrete overpass support, and explodes. The trucker dies at the scene. Vera is deeply shocked by the thought that she killed a child with her own hands. On the way back, the distraught women accidentally spot Katya under a streetlight. They immediately take the girl to Vera’s city apartment.

Deal with ex-husband

At home, Vera drinks scotch and watches the TV, which broadcasts a view of a Venetian canal from the window of her new home. Suddenly, Serge, her ex-husband, rings the doorbell. He needs money to urgently pay off a gangster debt. Vera breaks into a violent, bloody cough. Realizing her end is approaching, she hands Serge a thick envelope containing all her savings. In exchange, Vera asks him to deliver Katya to her grandmother. As a parting gift, Serge gives the girl a gold butterfly-shaped hairpin.

Serge brings his child to the Butterfly Casino. He leaves Katya in the cloakroom to have tea with the African prince Alfonso. Serge makes a lucky bet at roulette and wins a colossal sum of cash. After picking up the girl, he visits his friend Anna. Her husband, a lepidopterist, studies insects professionally. Serge repays an old financial debt and begs Anna to take Katya to her grandmother.

True reality and the ending

After saying goodbye to Anna, Serge sits down by his car on the side of the road and quietly cries. Soon, bandits track him down. They fire several fatal shots from a silenced pistol at the man lying on the ground. Serge bleeds out, and a live moth suddenly flies from his palm into the night sky.

Anna brings Katya to the airport police station to look for her parents. The girl sits back down in the chair in front of the screen and closes her eyes. The frozen hand on her wristwatch twitches and spins around. Mom and Dad approach from the baggage claim area with suitcases. They gently wake their daughter and call her to check-in. It turns out only an hour has passed, and all the tragedies of the night were an incredibly realistic childhood dream.

At the end of the story, the family is strolling through Venice at night. Walking across a bridge, Katya looks down and notices a gondola sailing. Petrovich, wearing a striped gondolier suit, is skillfully steering the boat. Inside, Vera and Serge are still alive. Petrovich is loudly singing "Santa Lucia." The girl takes a gold hairpin from her pocket and discreetly places it on the edge of the railing. The jewelry falls right at Vera’s feet. The trinity of fallen heroes, now at peace, floats away toward the bright light.