How Dark the Nights Are on the Black Sea
| How Dark the Nights Are on the Black Sea | |
|---|---|
 Original French film poster | |
| Directed by | Vasili Pichul |
| Written by | Mariya Khmelik |
| Produced by | Mark Levin |
| Starring | Aleksei Zharkov Natalya Negoda Anastasiya Vertinskaya Alexander Lenkov |
| Cinematography | Yefim Reznikov |
| Edited by | Yelena Zabolotskaya |
Release date |
|
Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
How Dark the Nights Are on the Black Sea (Russian: В городе Сочи тёмные ночи, romanized: V gorode Sochi tyomnye nochi, lit. In the city of Sochi, the nights are dark) is a 1989 Soviet romantic comedy film directed by Vasili Pichul. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
Plot
[edit]The story takes place across various cities, including Moscow, a northern provincial town, and Sochi. The characters are ordinary people—doctors, performers, vendors, and laborers—facing the aftermath of the Perestroika era. The main protagonists are Lena, a 24-year-old former student (played by Natalia Negoda), who was abandoned by her lover and is trying to rebuild her life, and Stepanich, a 45-year-old plumber (played by Alexei Zharkov), who is a seasoned con artist skilled at gaining people’s trust and disappearing with large sums of money.
The narrative also includes their acquaintances, colleagues, and family members, whose paths continuously intersect.
Cast
[edit]- Aleksei Zharkov as Stepanych, seasoned conman
- Natalya Negoda as Lena
- Anastasiya Vertinskaya as Lena's mother
- Alexander Lenkov as Lena's father
- Anna Tikhonova as Jeanne, shopgirl
- Grigori Manukov as Oleg Strelnikov
- Aleksandr Negreba as head of theatre
- Aleksandr Mironov as policeman
- Vatslav Dvorzhetsky as Fedor Fedorovich Strelnikov
- Andrei Sokolov as Boris, Stepanych's son
- Igor Zolotovitsky as Gubanischev
- Levan Mskhiladze as Sasha, Lena's former groom
- Maria Yevstigneyeva as Marina, Lena's former friend
- Yuri Nazarov as Glazier, criminal
- Boris Smorchkov as Jeanne's father
- Inna Ulyanova as lady in the restaurant
- Yervant Arzumanyan as Ashot Aramovich, theatre director
- Alexandra Tabakova as Masha
- Andrey Fomin as playwright
- Nadezhda Markina as Sonya, Oleg Strelnikov's wife
References
[edit]- ^ "Festival de Cannes: How Dark the Nights Are on the Black Sea". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
External links
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