Wings (1966)

Former pilot Nadezhda can't imagine herself in civilian life. She's now a school principal, a city council member and appears on television. But she can't find common ground with either her daughter or her rebellious student since returning from the war. The world once seemed clear and understandable, but now it seems to speak to her in an unknown language. Even her current prosaic existence seems “not enough” for the heroine. She herself says: “I’m stuck hustling all day, but I find no joy in myself or in anyone else.” Only after finding herself at the controls of a training aircraft does the heroine suddenly regain her former strength.

Larisa Shepitko's quiet drama is about a person who rejects real life, which, in turn, rejects the heroine. The movie became a hit in the USSR and was also screened in Western and Eastern Europe.