Best films about Russia
Films in English, French and German
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38 titles
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsMichael JaystonJanet SuzmanRoderic NobleTsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsOmar SharifJulie ChristieGeraldine ChaplinThe life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsRobin WilliamsMaria Conchita AlonsoCleavant DerricksA Russian saxophonist visiting New York City with a USSR circus troupe suddenly decides to defect in Bloomingdale's.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonGeorges AdetIn czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsJames MasonVanessa RedgraveSimone SignoretFilm adaptation of Anton Chekhov's story of life in rural Russia during the latter part of the 19th century.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom HanksMark RylanceAlan AldaDuring the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsGreta GarboMelvyn DouglasIna ClaireA stern Soviet woman sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from Russian nobles finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsYul BrynnerMaria SchellClaire BloomDrama based on Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky's homonymous novel about the proud Karamazov family in 1870s Russia.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsLinda DarnellGeorge SandersAnna LeeIn this filmed Chekhov adaptation, Olga is an alluring peasant woman who lures cynical aristocrat Fedor away from his milquetoast fiancée, with tragic consequences.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsMarlene DietrichJohn LodgeSam JaffeA German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsIngrid BergmanYul BrynnerHelen HayesAn opportunistic businessman tries to pass off a mysterious impostor as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, and she is so convincing that even the biggest skeptics believe her.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsCarl ReinerEva Marie SaintAlan ArkinWithout hostile intent, a Soviet submarine runs aground off New England. Men are sent for a boat, but many villagers go into a tizzy, risking bloodshed.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierJohn SichelStarsJeanne WattsJoan PlowrightLouise PurnellNearly a thousand miles away from their beloved Moscow, Chekhov's Three Sisters live in virtual exile. Olga, a schoolmistress, attempts to support her siblings and the home that is the sole legacy of their late father.
- DirectorJamie UysStarsJamie UysBob CourtneyReinet MaasdorpInternational diplomats take part in a walking competition, heading towards a major conference in Paris.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsWilliam HurtLee MarvinBrian DennehyA Moscow police officer investigates a vicious triple homicide and stumbles upon a high-level international political conspiracy.
- DirectorWalter HillStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerJim BelushiPeter BoyleA tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsSean ConneryAlec BaldwinScott GlennIn November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsSean ConneryMichelle PfeifferRoy ScheiderA British publisher is sent a manuscript detailing Soviet Union nuclear missile capabilities. British Intelligence intercept it and recruit him to investigate the author's editor, a beautiful Russian woman he claims never to have met.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinSuzy PrimLouis JouvetA charismatic thief makes friends with a bankrupt baron who comes to live in the thief's slum. Meanwhile the thief seeks the love of a young woman, who is held emotionally captive by her slumlord family.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryRobert ShawLotte LenyaJames Bond willingly falls into an assassination plot involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
- DirectorCasper WredeStarsTom CourtenayEspen SkjønbergAlf MallandIvan Denisovich Shukhov has been sentenced to a camp in the Soviet gulag system. He was accused of becoming a spy after being captured briefly by the Germans as a prisoner of war during World War II. He is innocent, but is sentenced to ten years in a forced labor camp. The day begins with Shukhov waking up sick. For waking late, he is forced to clean the guardhouse, but this is a comparatively minor punishment. When Shukhov is finally able to leave the guardhouse, he goes to the dispensary to report his illness. It is relatively late in the morning by this time, however, so the orderly is unable to exempt any more workers and Shukhov must work. Based on the life of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
- DirectorWarren BeattyStarsWarren BeattyDiane KeatonEdward HerrmannA radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsWallace ShawnPhoebe BrandGeorge GaynesNew York actors rehearse Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" in a dilapidated theatre.
- DirectorMichael HoffmanStarsHelen MirrenJames McAvoyChristopher PlummerA historical drama that illustrates Russian author Leo Tolstoy's (Christopher Plummer's) struggle to balance fame and wealth with his commitment to a life devoid of material things.
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsKeira KnightleyJude LawAaron Taylor-JohnsonIn late-19th-century Russian high society, St. Petersburg aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsJim SturgessEd HarrisColin FarrellSiberian gulag escapees travel four thousand miles by foot to freedom in India.
- StarsPaul DanoJames NortonLily JamesAs the Russian conflict with Napoleon reaches its peak, five aristocratic families face the possibility of their lives being changed forever.
- DirectorArmando IannucciStarsSteve BuscemiSimon Russell BealeJeffrey TamborMoscow, 1953. After being in power for nearly 30 years, Soviet dictator, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, takes ill and quickly dies. Now the members of the Council of Ministers scramble for power.
- DirectorViktor TourjanskyStarsIvan MozzhukhinNathalie KovankoAcho ChakatounyIn 1860s Russia, a young officer is sent on a mission to save his country from invaders.
- DirectorSam TaylorLewis MilestoneViktor TourjanskyStarsJohn BarrymoreCamilla HornLouis WolheimIn Czarist Russia, a peasant officer, resented by the aristocrats, falls in love with a princess.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsEvelyn BrentWilliam PowellA former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsÉdith JéhanneUno HenningFritz RaspIn the Crimea, the Reds and the Whites aren't done fighting, and Jeanne discovers that the man she loves is a Bolshevik (when he kills her father). Penniless, she returns to Paris where she works for her uncle. Soon after, her lover Andreas is in France to organize the sailors in Toulon. So also is a thief, traitor, and libertine, Khalibiev, who wants to seduce Jeanne. His schemes, Jeanne and Andreas's naivete, and a lost diamond bring the lovers to the brink of tragedy.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsAdele Reuter-EichbergVladimir GajdarovPolina PiekowskajaBased on the 1918 novel 'Elsker hverandre' by Aage Madelung, the film follows various lives, one of which is Jewish girl Hanne Liebe, as she grows up, and experiences the pains of living as a Jew in Russia, leading to a revolution.
- DirectorPierre ChenalStarsHarry BaurPierre BlancharMadeleine OzerayRaskolnikov is a Russian man who follows an unusual moral code. A combination of vigilantism and hubris fuels his decision to aid a hapless prostitute by removing her antagonist, a local merchant. Raskolnikov is locked up for the murder, and while he does not deny committing the crime, he tries to persuade the police that he should not be charged.
- DirectorLeo BirinskyPaul LeniStarsEmil JanningsConrad VeidtWerner KraussA wax museum hires a writer to give the sculptures stories. The writer imagines himself and the museum owner's daughter in the stories.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsRudolph ValentinoVilma BánkyLouise DresserA wanted Russian lieutenant becomes a masked vigilante seeking vengeance upon the man who stole his family's land, only to fall for his charming daughter.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsGreta GarboFredric MarchFreddie BartholomewThe married Anna Karenina falls in love with Count Vronsky despite her husband's refusal to grant a divorce, and both must contend with the social repercussions.
- DirectorWaris HusseinStarsJohn SavageWillie NelsonFrancesca AnnisVictor and his family moved to the USSR in the mid '30's. When he refused to sign his skydiving accomplishment as a citizen of the USSR, he was not tried but simply sent to prison. His horrific imprisonment, beating and torture culminated with his being sent to the Gulag for many years. He was in the Soviet Union, according to the film, for a total of 45 years.