In 1896 Georges Nagelmackers launched the Nord Express from Paris to St Petersburg. In 1990 the film rides the 47 hours from Paris to Moscow, in a time of upheaval: in Paris railwaymen lay the new TGV lines, in Berlin the Wall is crumbling, and at Brest, on the Soviet border, the carriages are moved onto broad-gauge bogies. Galina, the sleeping-car attendant, makes tea. In the corridor Theodore, a student, looks out over the curtain. In West Berlin the painter Ben Wagin doubts we will ever go any faster.
