Olga Voznesenskaya is a silent screen star whose pictures are so popular that underground revolutionaries risk capture to see them. She's in southern Russia filming a tear-jerker as the Bolsheviks get closer to Moscow. Although married, she spends time every day with Victor Pototsky, the film's cameraman. Gradually, it comes to light that Victor uses his job as a cover for filming White atrocities and Red heroism: he's a Bolshevik. He asks her for help, and she discovers meaning in her otherwise flighty and self-centered life. Love blooms. Will the Red forces arrive in time to save them from a suspicious White military leader? Will she find courage?
With Nikita Mikhalkov, Elena Solovei, Rodion Nakhapetov, Oleg Bassilachvili, Konstantin Grigoriev
Recommended by Nanni Moretti, Yolande Zauberman
1h43
Early in the 20th century, family and friends gather at the country estate of a general's widow, Anna Petrovna. Sofia, the new wife of Anna's step-son, recognizes Misha, the brother-in-law of one of the widow's admirers: a few years before, they had been idealistic lovers and now she can't believe he has settled for a dim wife and a job as a teacher. Amidst parlor games and idle talk of women's rights and peasants' capabilities, Sofia and Misha rekindle their love. Will they flaunt convention, abandon families, and run away to pursue lost dreams? Rescue comes from an unexpected place.
With Aleksandr Kalyagin, Elena Solovey, Evgeniya Glushenko, Antonina Shuranova
Recommended by Akira Kurosawa, Bruno Podalydès, Agnès Jaoui, Nanni Moretti
2h32
In the Soviet Union in 1936, shadow of Stalin's repressions lie on a famous revolution hero. The accusations of being him a foreign spy are nonsense, and all known that, but a slow process of his life's downfall is already running.
With Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Menshikov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Nadia Mikhalkova, André Oumansky, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Svetlana Krioutchkova, Vladimir Ilyine
Recommended by Costa Gavras
1h58
Aboard a ship early in the 20th-century, a middle-aged Italian tells his story of love to a Russian. In a series of flashbacks filmed almost entirely in creams, whites, and ochers, the clownish and superfluous Romano Patroni leaves his wife's opulent home to visit a spa where he falls in love with a Russian woman whose marriage is a horror. He pursues her into the Russian heartland and returns to Italy resolved to leave his wife and marry his love. His amazed and appreciative Russian listener then narrates a shorter story.
With Marcello Mastroianni, Silvana Mangano, Marthe Keller, Elena Safonova, Pina Cei, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy
Recommended by Albert Dupontel
1h43
Tamara and Sasha were separated during the war. Now (1957) Sasha is visiting Moscow for five days and by chance recognizes the house where Tamara used to live. She is still living there with her nephew Slava.
With Aleksandr Adabashyan, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Stanislav Lyubshin, Valentina Telichkina, Larisa Kuznetsova, Igor Nefyodov
Recommended by Chantal Akerman, Patricia Mazuy
2h40
St. Petersburg, mid 19th century: the indolent, middle-aged Oblomov lives in a flat with his older servant, Zakhar. He sleeps much of the day, dreaming of his childhood on his parents' estate. His boyhood companion, Stoltz, now an energetic and successful businessman, adds Oblomov to his circle whenever he's in the city, and Oblomov's life changes when Stoltz introduces him to Olga, lovely and cultured. When Stoltz leaves for several months, Oblomov takes a country house near Olga's, and she determines to change him: to turn him into a man of society, action, and culture. Soon, Olga and Oblomov are in love; but where, in the triangle, does that leave Stoltz?
Without Witness is an unflinchingly intimate and wickedly plotted two-actor tour de force pitting a divorced couple against each other and themselves.
With Irina Kupchenko, Mikhail Ulyanov
Recommended by Agnès Jaoui
2h00
The shepherd Gombo lives with his wife, three children and grandmother in a tent on the Mongolian steppe. They are pleased with their rustic conditions, until a Russian truck driver, Serguei, gets stuck with his truck nearby. The cultural gap between Gombo and Serguie seems invincible. But maybe they can learn a few things from each other?