To See Paris and Die

In Russia in the late 1960s, Elena will do anything to see that her son Yuri succeeds as a pianist: she longs for him to win a competition that will send him to Paris. To ensure his success, she denies her love for an iconoclastic painter for whom she models, prostitutes herself to a Party figure, encourages her son to break with his true love because the girl is a Jew, and, in general, behaves in paranoid ways, believing, for example, that a new lodger, Evgeny, is a KGB spy. She also has her own family secrets, which she will go to any length to keep her son from learning.

Directed by Aleksandr Proshkin, To See Paris and Die leans on a strong ensemble — Dmitriy Malikov, Tatyana Vasileva, Vladimir Steklov — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 1992.