Rondo

Mladen, a lonely bachelor and polished judge, arrives on a quiet Sunday at the apartment of his friend, the sculptor Fedja. The two men are chess fanatics who plan to spend the entire afternoon lost in a game that could stretch on with no end in sight.

Inside, Neda, Fedja’s wife, appears, and Mladen is instantly taken by her. She doesn’t share their passion for chess, yet she radiates a warmth and tenderness for her husband that seems to deepen with every quiet moment they share. After a long afternoon of games, the three are invited to dinner. Over food and conversation, they discuss chess, love, and music, and a Sunday ritual begins to take shape: the three will repeat this quiet cadence each week, and as the Sundays pass, their bond grows.

As time goes on, the atmosphere shifts. Mladen and Neda begin to display unmistakable signs of attraction toward one another. He nurtures that growing connection by gifting her recordings of Mozart performances, and the pair finds a rare kinship in their shared appreciation for classical music. One night, when they are momentarily alone, he leans in and kisses her. Neda does not resist; she doesn’t openly acknowledge it, but she does not pull away either, and she simply says goodbye at the end of the night.

Tension gradually fills the space between them. Their burgeoning feelings complicate their relationship with Fedja, who grows more suspicious of the undercurrents running beneath their conversations and glances. The mood thickens as distance and unease creep into their interactions, turning what began as a refined game of minds into something dangerously real.

A Sunday brings a covert move: Neda secretly visits Mladen at a bar he frequents, while Mladen heads to Fedja’s apartment to talk with her. They miss each other, but each encounter with Fedja later in the day reveals how their actions have begun to wear on him.

Neda starts to withdraw from Mladen, and he decides to break the pattern by visiting the couple on a Saturday, using the pretext of celebrating his birthday. The party is lively, yet intimate; in a moment of privacy, Neda confesses that her feelings for him are real. As fireworks are being set off, a very drunk Fedja is distracted, and Neda and Mladen end up making love.

Realizing that he loves both of his friends, Mladen makes the painful choice to withdraw, not wanting to ruin the fragile balance of their lives. Neda tells Fedja what happened, and, in a gesture of forgiveness, he accepts it.

A final Sunday arrives, and Fedja invites Mladen to another afternoon of chess. The talking and the quiet, the tension and the tenderness—all of it—come full circle as the three of them spend the afternoon together as they used to, gradually moving toward a fragile, renewed sense of connection.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:21