Tchaikovsky's Wife

2022 2h 24m RU

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 81

DramaHistory

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Antonina Milyukova is a beautiful and bright young woman, born in the aristocracy of 19th century Russia. She could have anything she'd want, and yet her only obsession is to marry Pyotr Tchaikovsky, with whom she falls in love from the very moment she hears his music. The composer finally accepts this union, but after blaming her for his misfortunes and breakdowns, his attempts to get rid of his wife are brutal. Consumed by her feelings for him, Antonina decides to endure and do whatever it takes to stay with him. Humiliated, disgraced and discarded, she is slowly driven to madness.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Alyona Mikhaylova
Antonina Milyukova
Odin Lund Biron
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Nikita Elenev
Kotek, Tchaikovsky's Pupil
Ekaterina Ermishina
Liza, Antoninona's Sister
Philipp Avdeev
Modest Tchaikovsky / Anatoli Tchaikovsky
Miron Fedorov
Nikolai Rubinstein
Andrey Burkovskiy
Vladimir Meshchersky
Aleksandr Gorchilin
Brandukov, Tchaikovsky's Pupil

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Writers: Kirill Serebrennikov
Languages: Russian, German, French
Countries: Russia, France, Switzerland

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 4 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Russian, German, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: Russia, France, Switzerland.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, shot by Vladislav Opelyants. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Daniil Orlov. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Yuri Karikh shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Alyona Mikhaylova and Odin Lund Biron and Nikita Elenev carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt17538510 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kirill Serebrennikov directs. Vladislav Opelyants behind the camera. Daniil Orlov scores. Yuri Karikh cuts. Produced in Russia, France, Switzerland. Dialogue in Russian, German, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 4 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Russian, German, French.
3International production across 3 countries: Russia, France, Switzerland.
4Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, shot by Vladislav Opelyants. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Daniil Orlov. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Yuri Karikh shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Alyona Mikhaylova and Odin Lund Biron and Nikita Elenev carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt17538510 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 81 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Released under 24 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Vladislav Opelyants
Original score: Daniil Orlov
Editing: Yuri Karikh
Production design: Vladislav Ogay
Costume design: Dmitry Andreev
Makeup / hair: Mariya Tutukina
Sound: Boris Voyt
Runtime: 144 min · 2h 24m
Status: Released
Box office: $1,300,000
Original language: RU
IMDB: Tchaikovsky's Wife (2022)

Also by

Kirill Serebrennikov

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-01-10
★ 7/10
Alyona Mikhailova is really quite good here as the all-but-obsessed "Antontina"" who takes a shine to the already acclaimed, but not especially wealthy, Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Odin Lund Biron). She manages to use her influential friends to get her into his conservatoire but though a competent pianist, struggles to make the grade or to pay the 50 roubles per month fee! Her infatuation encourages her to propose marriage to him. He politely declines, but she perseveres and in the end he opts for a companionship style of relationship. Initially that works, but gradually her love wants to manifest itself in something more physical and that repels him. Repels him to the extent that he leaves her and seeks a divorce. She fights this and with poverty and extreme emotional loneliness looming we follow her life through to it's rather sad conclusion during which, despite having three children with her lawyer lover "Shlykov" (Vladimir Mishukov), she never fails in her love. History tells us a little of the man's peccadilloes, and indeed as the film progresses we soon see that his "preferred" company is of much more importance to him that his marriage. That drama plays out in an uncomfortable to watch series of scenarios that cannot help to elicit a great degree of sympathy for a lady caught up in something that neither can control. The films looks great capturing the imagery, poverty and aspirations of late 19th century Imperial Russia but it's a really slow burn and I am afraid I just didn't really ever quite understand why she was quite to pathologically besotted with a man who, to his credit, was clear from the outset that he didn't want a marriage at all, and that if he did it was unlikely to offer more than a "brotherly" love. I needed to know just a little more of what made her tick and to be honest, I also needed a bit more meat on the bones of his life too. There's also a distinct paucity of his music which rather reduced this to the status of a stylishly photographed melodrama of family discord that really underdelivered on the characterisation front. Mikhailova does well though, her diminishing grasp on sanity and reality being well depicted and in all this is worth a watch. Just a little disappointing.

Production companies