''The Captivating Star of Happiness'' (russian: Звезда пленительного счастья, Zvezda plenitelnogo schastya, The Star of Fascinating Happiness) is a 1975

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

historical drama. The title is an allusion to a line from a poem by

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

. It is a costume drama dedicated "to the women of Russia".

Plot

The story is set in the aftermath of the

Decembrist revolt The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...

against Tsar Nicholas I in 1825. The revolt is repressed, and the military officers involved confess one by one. They are sentenced to exile in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

and their wives face the decision as to whether or not to follow them.

Cast

* Irina Kupchenko as Princess Ekaterina Ivanovna Trubetskaya * Aleksey Batalov as Prince Sergei Trubetskoy *

Natalya Bondarchuk Natalya Sergeyevna Bondarchuk (russian: Наталья Серге́евна Бондарчук) (born 10 May 1950) is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian actress and film director, best known for her appearance in Andrei Tarkovsky's ''Solaris (1972 ...

as Princess Mariya Volkonskaya * Oleg Strizhenov as Prince Sergey Volkonsky *Eva Shikulskaya as Polina Göbl-Annenkova, in marriage Praskovya Yegorovna * Igor Kostolevsky as Ivan Aleksandrovich Annenkov, Decembrist, cavalergard *Lev Ivanov as

Nikolay Raevsky Nikolay Nikolayevich Raevsky (; — ) was a Russian general and statesman who achieved fame for his feats of arms during the Napoleonic Wars. His family left a lasting legacy in Russian society and culture. Early life Nikolay Raevsky was born i ...

, a general from the cavalry (not in the credits) *

Raisa Kurkina Raisa may refer to *Raisa (given name) * Raisa (surname) * ''Raisa'' (album) by Raisa Andriana * ''Raisa'' (film), a 2015 Romanian short film *Raisa (singer) Raisa Andriana, better known by her mononym Raisa (born in Jakarta on 6 June 1990), is ...

as Sofya Alekseevna Raevskaya, the wife of NN Raevsky *Tatyana Pankova as Anna Annenkova, the mother of IA Annenkov *

Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov Aleksandr Shalvovich Porokhovshchikov (russian: Александр Шалвович Пороховщиков, 31 January 1939, Moscow – 15 April 2012, Moscow) was a Russian film and theatre actor and film director, People's Artist of Russia ...

Pavel Pestel Colonel Pavel Ivanovich Pestel (russian: Павел Иванович Пестель; in Moscow – in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian revolutionary and ideologue of the Decembrists. Early life Pestel came from a Lutheran family of Saxo ...

* Victor Kostetskiy as Pyotr Kakhovsky *Yuri Rodionov as Sergey Muravyov-Apostol *

Oleg Yankovsky Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (russian: Оле́г Ива́нович Янко́вский; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet and Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals. In 1991, he beca ...

Kondraty Ryleyev Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev, also spelled Kondraty Feodorovich Ryleev (, September 29 (September 18 O.S.), 1795 – July 25 (July 13 O.S.), 1826) was a Russian poet, publisher, and a leader of the Decembrist Revolt, which attempted to over ...

*Tatyana Fedorova as Natalia Ryleeva, the wife of KF Ryleev *

Vasily Livanov Vasily Borisovich Livanov (russian: link=no, Василий Борисович Ливанов; born 19 July 1935), MBE, is a Soviet and Russian film actor, animation and film director, screenwriter and writer most famous for portraying Sherlock ...

as Emperor Nicholas I *

Innokenty Smoktunovsky Innokenty Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky (russian: Иннокентий Михайлович Смоктуновский; born ''Smoktunovich'', 28 March 19253 August 1994) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was named a People's Artist ...

as Ivan Bogdanovich Zeidler, Irkutsk Governor * Vladislav Strzhelchik as Count Laval *Dmitry Shilko as Count

Mikhail Miloradovich Count Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich (russian: Граф Михаи́л Андре́евич Милора́дович, sh-Cyrl, Гроф Михаил Андрејевић Милорадовић ''Grof Mihail Andrejević Miloradović''; – ...

, St. Petersburg Governor-General *

Igor Dmitriev Igor Borisovich Dmitriev (russian: И́горь Бори́сович Дми́триев) (29 May 1927 – 26 January 2008) was a Soviet and Russian film and theatre actor who specialized in playing aristocratic characters in costume productions ...

as Count Lebzeltern, Austrian Envoy in St. Petersburg *Boris Dubensky as Emperor Alexander I *Victor Terekhov as Vasily Vasilyevich Levashov, Adjutant-General *Vadim Makarovsky as Vosh *Arkady Trusov as Fedor, valet Annenkov * Mikhail Kokshenov as Nikita, servant of Annenkov-senior *Aleksei Kozhevnikov as Paphnutius, servant of Zeidler

Production

After making the 1970 hit film ''

White Sun of the Desert ''White Sun of the Desert'' (russian: Белое солнце пустыни, Beloye solntse pustyni) is a 1970 Soviet Ostern film. Its blend of action, comedy, music and drama, as well as memorable quotes, made it highly successful at the Russi ...

'', Motyl received no directorial projects for five years. When Motyl got the green light from

Goskino Goskino USSR (russian: link=Yes, Госкино СССР) is the abbreviated name for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography (Государственный комитет по кинематографии СССР) in the Soviet Union. It w ...

to make a film about the Decembrists, he still had problems and had to do many rewrites because the authorities believed that the picture had too many parallels to the Soviet regime and allusions about Soviet dissidents. Nevertheless, the screenplay was rejected. Then Motyl went to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, to the regional party committee. He handed the script to the secretary on ideology; the woman did not have time to read it and instead gave the text to her daughter who ended up adoring it. The mother called Filipp Ermash, Moscow's Minister of Cinematography and declared that "The Leningrad Regional Committee is interested in the film about the Decembrists!" Thus the script got to Lenfilm, but the budget was cut to 1.5 million rubles from the initial 3.5 million. The locations of the film included the

Peterhof Palace The Peterhof Palace ( rus, Петерго́ф, Petergóf, p=pʲɪtʲɪrˈɡof,) (an emulation of early modern Dutch "Pieterhof", meaning "Pieter's Court"), is a series of palaces and gardens located in Petergof, Saint Petersburg, Russia, commi ...

and the

Winter Palace The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The palace and its precincts now ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Captivating Star of Happiness, The Films set in 1825 Films set in the Russian Empire Films about rebels Lenfilm films 1975 films 1970s historical drama films Russian historical drama films 1970s Russian-language films Soviet historical drama films 1975 drama films Cultural depictions of Nicholas I of Russia