The Admirer
Поклонница
(2012)
Genre: Romance/Drama
Duration: 95mins
Format: 35mm
Director: Vitaliy Melnikov
Cast: Kiril Pirogov, Svetlana Ivanova, Oleg Andreev, Oleg Tabakov
A story about Chekhov masterfully told by veteran director Vitaly Melnikov (Poor, Poor Pavel, Beat the Enemy). The film is loosely based on a true story and focuses on the 19th-century literary giant through the eyes of a woman named Lidia Avilova (Svetlana Ivanova). She was the author of some stories published in the popular press at the end of the 19th century and is often mentioned as one of Chekhov's many love interests. The story is about a love affair that never was. Chekhov arrives in St. Petersburg preceded by his reputation as a great literary figure. He meets Lydia Avilova, an admirer of his work. The two quickly fall in love, but the story does not end happily. He is terminally ill and she is married with two children. Romantic, moving, tragic and humorous. And true to the Chekhovian style these two good people, endowed with a heightened sense of duty, cannot find a way out of their existential impasse.