Aboard a ship early in the 20th-century, a middle-aged Italian tells his story of love to a Russian. In a series of flashbacks filmed almost entirely in creams, whites, and ochers, the clownish and superfluous Romano Patroni leaves his wife’s opulent home to visit a spa where he falls in love with a Russian woman whose marriage is a horror. He pursues her into the Russian heartland and returns to Italy resolved to leave his wife and marry his love. His amazed and appreciative Russian listener then narrates a shorter story.
Release Date: 1 November 1987Runtime: 117 min
Stars:
- Dmitriy Zolotukhin
- Elena Safonova
- Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy
- Jean-Pierre Bardos
- Marcello Mastroianni
- Maria Grazia Bon
- Marthe Keller
- Nino Bignamini
- Oleg Tabakov
- Paolo Baroni
- Pina Cei
- Roberto Herlitzka
- Silvana Mangano
- Vsevolod Larionov
- Yuri Bogatyryov
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
