The story of a Russian family living and dying through four wars: the Russian Civil War in 1920, the Great Patriotic War in 1942, the First Chechen War in 1996, and the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in 2017.
The thirst for a miracle lives in every person. The hero of the film, Fedor, witnesses an accident, as a result of which people close to him die. He decides that he was not saved by chance and now must change his life. Fedor is trying to live the way Orthodox hermits lived, tormenting himself with prayers and fasts. In this new world, he finds a guide - Father Hilarion. The hermit finally has hope that he will soon become an eyewitness of Revelation. But Father Hilarion is being killed absurdly and senselessly. Having experienced deep despair, Fedor will return to the people, experience love and jealousy, hatred and fear. And only when he reaches the edge - having decided to kill - will he become a witness of a miracle...
Lenfilm's most recent major production spins a kind of historical fantasy based on real incidents that's full of ominous implications for today. One night, a patrol rushes into the chambers of the Russian prince Pavel, son of the Empress Catherine; the Empress has died, and Pavel is to be anointed the new Tsar. Thought to be feeble-minded at best and crazy at worst, Pavel soon lives up to his enemies' fears: he dismisses long-serving courtiers, demands that peasants only work three days a week, and declares that state officials should start their days at 5 am. Soon, it seems that everyone who can is trying to hatch some kind of plot against him - including his own sons. Sumptuously designed, POOR POOR PAVEL constrasts the imperial splendor of the court with the sordid atmosphere of conspiracies and backstabbing that comes to define these characters' lives.
