''A Hunting Accident'' () is a 1978 Soviet

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Lord Byron, Byron helped popularize in the early 19th century. The genre often takes the form of the novel. Varieties ...

directed by

Emil Loteanu Emil Loteanu (6 November 1936 – 18 April 2003) was a Moldovan and Soviet film director born in what is now Republic of Moldova. He moved to Bucharest and Moscow in his early life. His best known films are '' Lăutarii'', '' Gypsies Are Found Ne ...

. It was entered into the

1978 Cannes Film Festival The 31st Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 30 May 1978. American filmmaker Alan J. Pakula served as jury president for the main competition. Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

. It is adapted from

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

's '' The Shooting Party''.

Plot

The film is set in the end of the 19th century and takes place at an aristocratic estate in the forests of central Russia. The daughter of a forester, Olga Skvortsova ( Galina Belyayeva) is a beautiful nineteen-year-old woman. Three middle-aged men who live in the manor and the surrounding area fall in love with her: a 50-year-old gloomy widower Urbenin ( Leonid Markov), an even more senior in age but youthful and lighthearted Count Karneev ( Kirill Lavrov) and the stately, handsome, 40-year-old court investigator Kamyshev (

Oleg Yankovsky Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals. In 1991, he became, together with , the last person to be nam ...

). Olga wanting to escape poverty marries the nobleman Urbenin without love. On the day of her wedding she runs away from the celebration and declares her love to Kamyshev but refuses to leave with him. Kamyshev erupts with passion and jealousy and he secretly hopes that he can persuade Olga to be with him. She is under the impression that Urbenin is rich and that with him she will be able to break out of poverty but soon finds out in what lowly conditions her husband lives. After this disappointment she becomes a mistress of the jovial Count Karneev, while her lawful husband Urbenin slowly ruins himself with drink and degenerates in the city. During the autumn hunt and picnic an intense argument happens between Olga and the fiercely jealous Kamyshev and after a few minutes under mysterious circumstances Olga receives a gunshot wound in the depths of the forest thicket. The young woman dies a few days later from severe blood loss without informing the investigators who attacked her at the shooting party. Her husband Urbenin is the main suspect and he is exiled to Siberia and dies four years later. Tormented by pangs of conscience Kamyshev writes a story about the dramatic events and submits it for publication in a journal. After reading the story by Kamyshev it becomes clear to the astute publisher (

Olegar Fedoro Olegar Fedoro ( ''né'' Olegár Pablo Fedóro; ; born 6 March 1958) is a Ukrainian-born former Soviet performer who later became a Spanish and then English actor. He enrolled in the acclaimed VGIK Film School (All-Russian State University of ...

) who was Olga's real murderer.

Music

The Waltz now became a wedding first dance for many couples in love and the music initially composed by

Eugen Doga Eugen Doga (1 March 1937 – 3 June 2025) was a Moldovan composer. He made significant contributions to various forms of music during his career. He created ballets, ''Luceafărul'', ''Venancia'', and ''Queen Margot'', the opera ''Dialogues of ...

for a movie became famous worldwide. Ronald Reagan called it "the Waltz of the century" when he visited Moscow. American

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

Sasha Cohen skated to the waltz in her short program at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

. The music was used at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. The Waltz was declared by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

one of the four most beautiful musical masterpieces of the 20th century. Victoria Demici, a British-Romanian writer, is the author of the lyrics versions of the famous Waltz 'My Sweet and Tender Beast'. She wrote both the Romanian (2012) and the English (2022) lyrics for Doga's masterpiece. Paula Seling and Catalina Caraus are singing the poetry versions of the Waltz. Canadian ice-skater, Madeline Schizas, performed to the lyrics version of the Waltz during the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing and made it to the third place. American ice-skater, Isabeau Levito, skated to the poetry version written by Eugen Doga and Victoria Demici during the 2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The 15-year-old ice-skater won the Gold Medal accompanied by the so-called Waltz of the Champions.

Cast

* Galina Belyayeva as Olga (as Galya Belyayeva) *

as Kamyshev * Kirill Lavrov as Count Karneyev * Leonid Markov as Urbenin *

Svetlana Toma Svetlana Andreevna Toma (, born Svetlana Andreevna Fomichyova (; born 24 May 1947) is a Moldovan-Russian and Soviet actress. She debuted at the Moldova-Film studio in 1966. She worked in the Soviet Union. She is the mother of the actress Irina La ...

as Gypsy Tina * Grigore Grigoriu (as Grigori Grigoriu) as Polychrony Arkadyevich Kalidis * Vasili Simchich *

as Publisher (as Oleg Fedorov) * Vadim Vilsky as Doctor * Anna Petrova (as Anya Petrova) * Vladimir Matveyev (as Volodya Matveyev) * Valeri Sokoloverov

References

External links

* 1978 films 1970s historical romance films 1970s historical drama films 1978 romantic drama films Soviet historical drama films Soviet romantic drama films Russian-language historical romance films Russian-language historical drama films Russian-language romantic drama films 1970s Soviet films 1970s Russian-language films Films directed by Emil Loteanu Films based on works by Anton Chekhov Films based on Russian novels Mosfilm films {{romantic-drama-film-stub

Plot

Music

Cast

See also

References

External links