Synopsis
The Pharmacist (Аптекарь, 2009) is a Russian drama series you can watch online on iFILM, adapted from Vladimir Orlov's novel. Five near-strangers who meet at a beer dispenser pool their coins for a bottle — and out of that bottle steps a fairy named Bereginya, bound to serve whoever owns it and grant their every wish.
The trouble is that ordinary Soviet men turn out to have no grand wishes at all. Life suited them just fine. With their routine suddenly knocked off course, one by one the partners sell their shares to a local "businessman" who deals in puppies. All except the Pharmacist — the only one carrying a real desire, the wish to love. The cast includes Sergey Puskepalis, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Timofey Tribuntsev, Sergey Nikonenko and Mikhail Yefremov.
Orlov built a gentle fable around a simple idea: people fear their own wishes more than they lack them. The fantasy is really a way into the emptiness of late-Soviet life and the price of genuine feeling. One for viewers who like slow, thoughtful Russian storytelling. Stream The Pharmacist (Аптекарь, 2009) online on iFILM.
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