A man loses his mind chasing a ghost he invented — Russian cinema at its most unhinged.
A story of a successful businessman who falls in love with a silent movies actress and starts to look everywhere for a woman who looks exactly like her.
Acting
Porechenkov commits to unhinged businessman breakdown with terrifying conviction.
Production
Silent film recreations outshine the modern framing device.
Direction
Svetozarov leans hard into hysteria when restraint might have hurt more.
Director
Dmitriy Svetozarov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Svetozarov adapted this from his own 2008 novel, which was reportedly even more unhinged. The silent film sequences were shot on location at Mosfilm's preserved 1920s sets.
Released during Russia's post-Soviet nostalgia wave for imperial glamour, the film accidentally critiques the very oligarch fantasy it aestheticizes — or maybe not accidentally.
RU
