How Dark the Nights Are on the Black Sea (Russian: В городе Сочи тёмные ночи, romanized: V gorode Sochi tyomnye nochi, lit. 'In the city of Sochi, the nights are dark') is a 1989 Soviet romantic comedy film directed by Vasili Pichul. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.
Contents
Plot
The story takes place across various cities, including Moscow, a northern provincial town, and Sochi. The characters are ordinary people—doctors, performers, vendors, and laborers—facing the aftermath of the Perestroika era. The main protagonists are Lena, a 24-year-old former student (played by Natalia Negoda), who was abandoned by her lover and is trying to rebuild her life, and Stepanich, a 45-year-old plumber (played by Alexei Zharkov), who is a seasoned con artist skilled at gaining people’s trust and disappearing with large sums of money.
The narrative also includes their acquaintances, colleagues, and family members, whose paths continuously intersect.
Cast
Aleksei Zharkov as Stepanych, seasoned conman
Natalya Negoda as Lena
Anastasiya Vertinskaya as Lena's mother
Alexander Lenkov as Lena's father
Anna Tikhonova as Jeanne, shopgirl
Grigori Manukov as Oleg Strelnikov
Aleksandr Negreba as head of theatre
Aleksandr Mironov as policeman
Vatslav Dvorzhetsky as Fedor Fedorovich Strelnikov
Andrei Sokolov as Boris, Stepanych's son
Igor Zolotovitsky as Gubanischev
Levan Mskhiladze as Sasha, Lena's former groom
Maria Yevstigneyeva as Marina, Lena's former friend
Yuri Nazarov as Glazier, criminal
Boris Smorchkov as Jeanne's father
Inna Ulyanova as lady in the restaurant
Yervant Arzumanyan as Ashot Aramovich, theatre director
Alexandra Tabakova as Masha
Andrey Fomin as playwright
Nadezhda Markina as Sonya, Oleg Strelnikov's wife