Synopsis
The Theme (1979) is a Gleb Panfilov drama you can watch online on iFILM. Kim Yesenin, played by Mikhail Ulyanov, is a celebrated Moscow playwright who drives out to the provinces hunting for inspiration and finds that comfortable success has hollowed him out.
In a quiet town the self-satisfied writer is forced to see himself clearly. He meets Sasha (Inna Churikova), a modest museum guide, and her lover Andrei, a dissident getting ready to emigrate to America. Watching someone else's love and someone else's painful choice cuts deeper than any review: Yesenin realizes his polished work is missing the one thing that matters — honesty.
Soviet censors shelved the film for nearly seven years; its frank talk of conformism, emigration and the price of talent was more than they would allow. The Theme finally reached audiences in 1986 and took home the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival the next year. The Ulyanov–Churikova pairing ranks among the finest acting of late-Soviet cinema. Stream The Theme (1979) online on iFILM.
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