Better Life

In this episode, we meet the Popadić family: their mother Ema, father Dragiša, daughter Violeta, and sons Saša and Boba. Amid the overall chaos, Ema has ordered an expensive Chinese carpet, and Dragiša’s financial problems are overwhelming even without that. Saša has become such a frequent visitor at the Employment Office counter that he has already befriended the clerk, Koka—new romantic sparks are on the horizon. Boba gets yet another bad grade at school. We learn that Dragiša’s older sister has died, and this modest old woman leaves a will and a large inheritance to Dragiša and his children.

Auntie has set a specific condition for each heir that must be fulfilled in order to gain the right to use the inheritance: Violeta must get married and devote herself to family life, Saša must find a job, Boba must finish secondary school with at least a “4” average grade, and Dragiša must erect a gravestone/monument for his aunt. The heirs’ initial excitement immediately fades. Violeta wants to pursue acting and the arts and isn’t even thinking about marriage. Saša can’t find a job at all, because there are many people like him at the Employment Office, and Boba can barely manage to pass the year.