A theater director's life implodes spectacularly — and you'll eat every second of the mess.
Acting
Filatov's volcanic performance as a man drowning in his own dreams.
Direction
Khudyakov frames theater as both sanctuary and prison.
Production
Crushingly authentic 1980s Soviet provincial detail throughout.
Director
Konstantin Khudyakov
Leonid Filatov
Gennadi Fetisov
Aleksandr Zbruev
Oleg Zuyev
Lev Durov
Pavlik Platonov
Anatoliy Romashin
Nikolai Knyazev
Ludmila Savelyeva
Inna
Alisa Freyndlikh
Zinaida Nikolayevna Arsenyeva
Larisa Udovichenko
Alla Saburova
Alla Meshcheryakova
Nyusya
Marina Politseymako
Galya
Vatslav Dvorzhetsky
Vinokurov
Vladimir Privalov
Theatre director
Vadim Vilskiy
theater actor
Yuri Leonidov
Theatre actor
Viktor Markin
theater actor
Nina Krachkovskaya
theater actress
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the stagnant Brezhnev era, the film's trapped protagonist mirrored Soviet intellectuals' suffocating reality. Director Khudyakov was himself a theater veteran who knew this world intimately.
Leonid Filatov reportedly stayed in character throughout production, alienating cast members — method acting that arguably improved the film's raw tension.
SU
