Vanished Empire (2007)

Исчезнувшая империя

Moscow in the 1970s: three students, a love triangle and a country that none of them know is about to disappear.

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Year
2007
Director
Karen Shakhnazarov
Starring
Alexander Lyapin, Lidiya Milyuzina, Yegor Baranovsky, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan
Genre
Drama, Romance
Running time
1 h 44 min
Language
Russian, English subtitles
Studio
Mosfilm

About the film

Sergei is a carefree student in 1970s Moscow, interested in jeans, rock records and girls. He falls for Lyuda, kind and trusting, and their romance is sweet and real.

Then a glamorous new girl joins the course, and Sergei cannot resist. Meanwhile his friend Stepan, secretly in love with Lyuda, is there to help her.

Shakhnazarov looks back at his own youth with warmth and humour. The black-market jeans, the music and the Moscow streets make it a lovely time capsule of the Soviet seventies.

Did you know?

  • The title refers to the USSR, which vanished in 1991.
  • A re-edited version was later released as Love in the USSR.

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