Evgenia Medvedeva is a Russian figure skater who has won two silver Olympic medals, two World Championship gold medals, and two European Championship gold medals. But you have to catch it first, as Yemelya the Fool (or Ivan in some versions) does in the fairy tale of the same name, and then release it back into the water. Known for her iconic portrayal of Aksiniya in the epic And Quiet Flows the Don, Elina Bystritskaya still remains one of the brightest stars of Soviet and Russian cinema, despite having made only 19 movies. Russian Fairy Tales: The Top 5 Women in Russian Folklore Despite the tragic twists and turns of her life, she doesnt play victim, standing in dignity till the end with her unmatched silvery laugh. The 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. Lotte Lenya, There have been numerous adaptations: two films (one by Stanley Kubrick), a musical, two ballets and an opera. Apart from this phrase, the president makes more than one uplifting announcement, along the lines of: "We will no longer be afraid," but when a gun is pressed to his temple he admits to the Russian that the whole fight against terrorism boils down primarily to the eternal male game of "whose is longer," and all other considerations are secondary. Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox. 108 min In Turgenev's Fathers and Children (often mistranslated as Fathers and Sons ), Madame Odintsova is, as her name suggests in Russian, a lonely woman. Fictional great female characters can be just as engaging, however. He doesnt think before acting, and often does things randomly. Sebastin Cordero 10 MAIN Russian fairy tales - Russia Beyond Russian philosopher Helena Blavatsky, or Madame Blavatsky, was one of the co-founders of the Theosophical Society. Click here to find out more. Drama, Music, Romance. The Cherry Orchards Ranevskaya is the head of the high-society family on the brink of bankruptcy. The 7 Most Badass Women Assassins in Film - Nerdist Professor Woland, at first shown as a foreigner that visits 1930s Moscow, is, in fact, the devil, who has arrived to inspect the Socialist city with an entourage of grotesque demons. Yet somehow he always blunders through thanks to some miraculous assistance, and ends up achieving feats that not even heroes can manage. Emma, also known as Esmeralda, lives in a castle at the edge of a pungent swamp. A map of Magical Kingdom. Trying to blow up an asteroid with a nuclear bomb, NASA pilots are forced to refuel at the Russian space station, Mir, where Colonel Lev Andronov has grown a beard after a year and a half alone at the station. It also happens that our hero gets an audience with the Tsar in the middle of the story, putting a new twist in the tale and posing some new quest for the hero. At first sight, the businesswoman has everything one can only dream of: family, wealth, and respect. This was roughly the ideal of Russian womanhood that the writer Nikolai Nekrasov had in mind when he wrote his famous lines that a Russian woman could "stop a galloping horse and enter a burning log cabin. Kieron Moore, Peter Hyams In the second of the famous Bond films Tatiana Romanova, a Russian employee at the Soviet Consulate in Turkey, is the girlfriend of Bond (Sean Connery). Follow Russia Beyond on Telegram. Tatyana Larina of 'Eugene Onegin'. Moscow cannot of course accept the situation and a whole Soviet-Cuban-Czechoslovak coalition is sent to the impoverished country. | Gross: Adventure, Drama, Mystery. Oil painting reproduction of 'Poor Lisa' by Orest Kiprensky. Defining popularity may be difficult, especially when speaking of fictional characters so weve applied different criteria for these glorious (or hideous) people, all the creatures of the imagination of Russian writers: number of screenings and Google page impressions, interviews with foreigners and so on. Russia at the turn of the 1980s/1990s was the golden age of Arnold Schwarzenegger and American action movies. She may also, on account of her age and laziness, give "the kitchen work" to someone who, out of foolishness or good-heartedness, has let "supper" run off. Russian girl names are a high-fashion choice right now literally! 139 min Stars: A wealthy nobleman falls in love with a 17-year-old peasant girl and seduces her. Rhino (character) Rocket Red Brigade. Fool me twice, shame on me," originated in Russia; important space discoveries were made by Russian astronomers; and an old woman from Leningrad [now St. Petersburg] invented Scotch tape. 8,092 Time to rise up! 8) Vodyanoy (or Water Spirit) is the King of the Deep. Poor Liza made a revolution in classic Russian literature when it saw the light of day in the early 1790s. The Empress of Russia for almost 35 years, Catherine the Great was the country's longest-ruling female leader. 249,873 The story of Vasilisa is an illustration of the folk belief that loving parents continue to watch over their children and help them even from the grave. She is the perfect wife of Prince Ivan Tsarevitch, loyal and thrifty, clever and beautiful, sensible and resourceful. | Dorothy Gale, 'The Wizard of Oz'. May 10 2013. Despite his chaotic nature, Ivan the Fool fulfills a very important role: his bungling antics provide amusement for both the other characters and the readers too, and they prove that even the slowest sometimes turn out to be the fastest. Russia, 1820s: Onegin inherits his uncle's country estate and moves there from St. Petersburg. The fight prompts Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) to wrest himself from his comfortable life of family bliss and travel to Russia for a rematch to avenge his friend's death. It's also a classic in its own right, thanks in large part to Anne Parillaud as . She also has a knack for magic arts and has an army of nannies working for her. James 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. Ivan the Fool doesnt like work; he cant manage even the simplest task, instead bringing woe upon his family or employer. Bulgakov doesnt show Woland as an evil creature: he is more of a philosopher who only punishes bad people and beholds Soviet citizens with interest, only to find that there is nothing new about them and eventually he flies away, leaving the pungent odor of sulfur in the air. People have seen the Nightingale in different ways, sometimes as a man, sometimes as a winged avian half-man. Hes the head of a family his three grown-up daughters and their husbands live with him there. In mythology, hes considered evil, but in fairy tales, he is often not malevolent, though he sometimes tries to prevent the young hero from marrying his beloved, especially if she turns out to be the Water Spirits daughter. Even though she was interested in the show business from a young age, she began her career as a nurse assistant. 2. 107 min Martha Fiennes Hans Matheson (R) portrayed Zhivago in the 2002 mini-series by Giacomo Campiotti. agent whose lover he killed. Poema bez geroya and Requiem remain two of her finest works. Her reputation precedes her: Vassa is the iron lady, the Russian embodiment of strength, stamina and success. Mel Ferrer, Alyosha (R) is usually portrayed as some kind of an angelic creature. Near the shores of the U.S. in 1961 the first Soviet nuclear submarine is carrying out tests, during which an accident happens and theres an imminent risk of radioactive fuel leaking into the water. Movies with Russian female characters - IMDb Through the four volumes of War and Peace, Natasha transforms from a 13 year-old nave teenager, through a passionate young woman in search of love, into a stout mother of four Tolstoys ideal of feminine evolution. One of them was spreading and strengthening the Empire. Director: And, despite his youthful age, when it comes to drinks Chekhov enjoys only vodka, of course. We're even ranking immortal female characters, like Galadriel from Lord of the Rings and the goddess Athena you read about in . | Dangerous, daring and disturbingly beautiful, Nastasya Filippovna is a femme fatale with a capital F. And this proud self-hostility multiplies her irresistibility tenfold. when the female lead in the latest Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," was . Robert Downey Jr., ", Yuri Komarov (right), A Good Day to Die Hard (2013, Die Hard film series). That is why Keira Knightley's Karenina was judged to be not the real Karenina. The Idiots Nastasya Filippovna is a patchwork of the battles she has lost. She served as the Empress regnant of Russia from 1725 until her death in 1727. Their divorce was publicly announced on national TV, during the intermission of a ballet performance. Theres the Bog Hag, who is married to a hobgoblin, and the House Hag, who is the wife of Domovoi (a house spirit in Slavic folklore). 5. Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen. Tekken Series. Russian viewers are slightly put off by the abundance of all this hokum but they are used to it. Otherwise, even the tattoo on his skull is in the form of Chinese characters, for some reason. After falling in love in Paris, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Maria Feodorovna was a Danish princess who married Emperor Alexander III and became Empress of Russia. Stars: He is also a former KGB agent, but that is not his defining feature. 127,960 1 Tennis Player), (Russian Pediatric Endocrinologist and Eldest Daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin), Maria Vorontsova, the eldest daughter of Russian president Vladimir Putin, is a pediatric endocrinologist and Putin's advisor in genetic engineering. King Vidor And, eventually, by turning into an internet meme. | Hollywood takes it for granted that in Russia everything is possible: one can buy a tank, blow up the Kremlin without being caught by police, and steal a nuclear bomb. 5,574 If a foreigner knows one character from all Russian novels, there is a great chance it will be Anna Karenina. Director: Emma the Frog Princess. One of the principal Avengers, martial arts expert, polyglot and hacker who can bypass security systems to break into almost anything, Marvel Universe character Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is the personification of the ideal female Russian spy in Hollywood. The Bride (Uma Thurman), Kill Bill. Jack is a robot who was built by the former Soviet Union for military purposes. This gaze looked - as if proposing a riddle, 10. In The Brothers Karamazov he works as a mirror for the other characters who, speaking to him, always full of mercy and understanding, reveal themselves. Lewis Gilbert Overseas, people are less familiar with the story of Onegin a young jaded aristocrat who ruins the lives of others but finds himself broken too. She was a German Princess born under the name Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, but she ended up as the Russian Empress, and one of the most important heads of the country, ruling for more than 30 years. Director: The effect of the drug wears off, however. Galina Reznikov. The most well-known tale of the hag is Kikimora, by Alexei Tolstoy. A woman of strong character and a true survivor, Lara wouldnt let rocky situations get her down. A nihilist is a person who rejects every conservative value that society clings to, one who cries out loud To hell with that, thats all hypocrisy and nonsense! The concept itself is rather ancient yet in Russia it was Ivan Turgenev who portrayed the ideal nihilist, Yevgeny Bazarov, in his most famous novel Fathers and Sons (1862). Action, Crime, Thriller. The first woman military pilot, Yevgeniya Shakhovskaya was also a Russian as was the prominent female mathematician, Sofia Kovalevskaya who discovered the Kovalevskaya Top. Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox. Culture. Doctor Zhivago brought Pasternak a Nobel Prize and lots of troubles at home (the Soviet authorities were dissatisfied with a novel about an intellectual). This is one of the most archetypal Russian fairy tales since its protagonist, albeit lazy and simple-minded, is kind . Ben Affleck, She started the Age of Enlightenment in Russia, she created the Imperial theater, established Moscow University and the Academy of Arts in St.Petersburg. Which American cities starred in Russian movies. This website uses cookies. Having been given a feather that shines more brightly than many candles, the Tsar usually wants the whole bird and sends the hero off on a perilous quest. Madame Odintsova, Fathers and Children. Uknown artist. | Gross: But, unlike Baba Yaga, he cant be bought off or distracted hes always determined to make a meal of those who disturb his rest or thwart his plans. | One of the most mind-blowing scenes in The Master and Margarita is the Satanic Ball hosted by Margarita on a Friday at midnight. They are tough, physically strong, do not say much and, like real Russians, can get hold of anything. $0.79M, Anna Karenina, Kitty, Lydia, Vronskaya, Dolly, Betsy, Princess Schcherbatksy, Approved | He gambles away his estate and marries an old rich widow to rescue the situation. School children still literally have to learn sections by heart, so you will remember something for the rest of your life whether you like it or not. Sophie Marceau, She possesses no superpowers, but instead she has had years of KGB training and a tough childhood in Stalingrad (now Volgograd). Baba Yaga can be quite pugnacious, chasing the hero for ages on her giant broom. At the same time Olga was the first ever Russian ruler to be baptized into Christianity, even before Old Russia was massively baptized (by her grandson Vladimir). Inna Leonova. Drama, Romance, War. 8 in singles tennis rankings, in spite of never having won a singles title. Vivien Leigh, She supported the ideals of the Enlightenment and the period of her rulethe Catherinian Erais considered the Golden Age of Russia. 100 min Their church's Spanish-born pastor struggles with his faith, while Neil encounters a woman from his childhood. According to the earliest Russian chronicles Prince Igor of Kiev was a grandson of Rurik, the Varagian who was called by Slavic tribes to rule them and create order. | Sean Bean, | Russian women are most famous for their beauty and charm. Sun Sign: Aquarius. The lead character, Mike, is played by the young Matt Damon, but you don't want to look at his youthful and boyish face as much as you do his opponent, Malkovich. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Votes: Action, Drama, Thriller. | She has the full Cinderella package of a nasty stepmother . They tell all you children: the devil, he's a villain but it ain't necessarily so go the verses of one old blues song, and Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of The Master and Margarita, couldnt agree more. This is the version we find in tales like Koschei the Immortal, Maria Morevna and The Frog Princess.. Nikita, La Femme Nikita (1990) La Femme Nikita is the movie that made writer-director Luc Besson's career. | We find Gorynych the Dragon in tales such as Frolka, Dobrynia Nikitich" and "Gorynych the Dragon.. He dwells in all kinds of reservoirs and wells, but youll most frequently find him in the pools near a water mill. And thats what she really is, a big spender with a huge heart. 208 min Drama, Romance. But one of them, the Drevlians, maddened by massive taxes, eventually killed the Prince. Click here to find out more. She is as strong as she is vulnerable. 12 famous Russian fairy tale characters. $0.59M, R Director: $40.20M, R She was the second daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. 111,912 Based on the novel by Tolstoy. The two lovers meet secretly, but the whole (high society) world will soon find out about their affair. Stars: Helen Mirren, The difference between the Russian and American perception of reality is spelled out in the first lyrical digression. 125 min | Elizabeth Jennings, The Americans (Keri Russell) A Russian spy who manages to keep up appearances as an average American wife and mother during . | 12 famous Russian fairy tale characters - Russia Beyond | Sophia Alekseyevna in a cell at the Novodevichy Convent. Naomi Watts, | Portrait of Catherine the Great, 1763. Lolita the character remains a symbol of lost innocence even though we see her through the eyes of a molester, who portrays her as a somewhat vicious and insidious girl. Phillip Noyce more. Mikhail Bulgakovs third wife, Elena, was the inspiration for the title character, Margarita. | Gross: | Gross: While out on parole, Dennis reluctantly takes a job selling Christmas trees with his old buddy Rene in order to make enough money to buy his estranged daughter the piano she's always wanted. Needless to say, Rachenko drinks a lot of vodka, flaunts a fake Russian accent, and sends flying in all directions first the enemies of communism and then the communists themselves. And on top of all that, shes skilled in the magic arts and has an army of nannies at her command, who canassist her in even seemingly impossible circumstances. In the film, he is an arms dealer played by Croatian actor Rade erbedija who wants to get his hands on a huge diamond. Catherine was an incredibly smart person and she supported education, establishing the first girls school in the country. 54,924 Yulia Lipnitskaya stunned her fans with the news of her retirement at the tender age of 19. She became famous for not executing a single person during her rule and for modernizing Russias architecture. Baba Yaga tests the heros nerve and courage. She took power and jailed the infant and his regents. Shes most often found as the owner of a wooden hut on chicken legs, or as the guardian of the way into a wild wood. She has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky. However, theres another kind of Baba Yaga who is best avoided the one who enjoys feasting on children. This website uses cookies. She later wrote about the horrors of the Stalinist regime. At a critical moment Andropov saves his American counterparts, helping them to return to Earth but he chooses a strange method for this. Tales include Baba Yaga, Vasilisa the Beautiful and The Magic Swan Geese.. But she is not shattered. How good is everything she does. Laras ability to love knows no bounds. The Most Heroic Women in Russian Literature Elina Bystritskaya. Marya suffers a lot of grievances from her stern father, Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky, who is hard to get on with. A married woman's affair with a dashing young officer has tragic results. Origin: Russian. The Water Spirit appears in a tale Tsarevitch Ivan and Princess Marfa.. Just like Alyosha, Natasha Rostova, a young noblewoman from Leo Tolstoys War and Peace, proved herself more popular than the two other most important characters of that epic novel (Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky), according to Google. Browse this site to learn more about the famous Russian women who made immense contributions to the world. At the 2017 World Championships, Medvedeva became the first 16-year-old female skater after Michelle Kwan to win back-to-back world titles. Ralph Fiennes, Votes: 102,901 | Gross: $12.82M. Gwyneth Paltrow, But back in the days of Dostoevsky, he embodied the idea of a sinful intellectual who dares take the others life because of his abstract superior ideas. Stars: She only came into power after she colluded to dethrone her unpopular husband, a move that would then place her at the helm. Finding himself far from ideological propaganda, Rachenko sees the light: Communism is evil and the liberation plans are a mere smoke screen. 90 min Though Marya is not beautiful, she finds her way into other peoples hearts. 10 ICONIC female characters in Russian literature you need to know 7) The Firebird is a Russian version of the legend of the Phoenix. Director: 320,644 Comedy, Drama. Director: One of the most decorated operatic singers of her generation, Anna Netrebko was included in the Time 100 list in 2007. Russian powerlifter Nataliya Kuznetsova was introduced to bodybuilding at 14, when she had started visiting the gym on the persistence of her father, who wished to boost her self-confidence. She doesnt want to be liked, to be beautiful and captivating. Briony Tallis (Atonement) The Character: A teenage girl whose erroneous accusation in Atonement destroys a love affair and plagues her for the rest of her life. However it was not easy to tie down the ambitious Russian woman and prevent her from exploring the world beyond her domestic responsibilities. Mathieu Amalric, 5 outstanding female scientists in Russian history, Russian women of the 20th century (PHOTOS), Now in color: Russian beauties of tsarist times (PHOTOS). And yet, Princess Marya loves and respects her grumpy elderly father: All the outbursts of his unreasonable anger mostly fell on Princess Marya. Perhaps thats the reason she remains famous. She was incredibly smart and also a very strong person who managed to deal with the game of thrones in 17th century Russia. And if he proves worthy, she helps him along his way with his task, giving him talismans that will aid his work. Yemelya gets eight wishes in his tale. Director Guillermo del Toro premiered his version of the battle beyond the Great Northern Wall with alien monsters in 2013.