A Simple Story

A Simple Story (1960) is a Soviet drama directed by Yuri Yegorov — watch it online on iFILM. Nonna Mordyukova plays Sasha Potapova, a war widow elected kolkhoz chairwoman because the village knows she will not fold.

Sasha runs the farm without complaint, without explanation — grief has been compressed into habit long before the film begins. Then she falls in love with someone who does not love her back. The feeling does not unravel her or remake the story. What it does is give Mordyukova room to play a kind of quiet, unclaimed pain that lingers after the credits.

Mikhail Ulyanov and a young Vasily Shukshin appear in supporting roles. Stream A Simple Story (1960) online on iFILM.