The 40 most popular russian drama movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Russian Nymphet: Temptation
2004 · 35m
country: Russia
A Russian teen turns the tables on her fashion photographer. Suddenly he doesn't like being the one on camera!


Chernobyl: Abyss
2021 · 2h 16m
country: Russia
The aftermath of a shocking explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station made hundreds of people sacrifice their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. This is their story.


9th Company
2005 · 2h 19m
country: Finland
Russian army recruits complete training and take their posting in late 1980s Afghanistan, where the insurgents are slowly gaining the upper hand.


Bringing Up Cruelty in Women and Dogs
1992 · 2h 16m
country: Russia
A single woman's and her dog's personalities are affected by tough life circumstances.


Fib the Truth
2021 · 1h 29m
country: Russia
A couple in love spends time away from civilization, but the sudden arrivals of the younger sister and then the girl's ex-boyfriend violate the country idyll.


Mira
2022 · 1h 50m
country: Russia
Near future. Lera Arabova is a 15-year-old girl who lives with her family in Vladivostok. Lera's father has been working at the orbiting space station "Mira" for many years and has long lost contact with his daughter, turning only into a voice on the phone. After a meteor shower hits the city, Lera has only one chance to save her loved ones and the city from a new disaster. Her father helps her in this - through satellite surveillance systems and the telephone, he uses every opportunity to send a message to his daughter, watching from above from the station her every step.


Persian Lessons
2020 · 2h 7m
country: Russia
Occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of "Farsi" every day and teaching them to Koch.


Naughty
2023 · 1h 49m
country: Russia
In order to prevent the construction of a skyscraper in an urban forest, Elya, a young environmental activist, accepts a challenge from the mega wealthy developer: If after spending seven days with him, she doesn't fall for him, he'll stop the project. During this time of luxury and passion, Elya becomes increasingly attracted to him.


The Master and Margarita
2024 · 2h 37m
country: Russia
A struggling writer in 1930s Soviet Moscow finds his life transformed when a mysterious professor arrives with his bizarre entourage, including a wisecracking trickster, a deadly assassin, a vampire maid, and a giant talking black cat, turning the city upside down while exposing the hypocrisy of those in power.


The Cuckoo
2002 · 1h 40m
country: Russia
September of 1944, a few days before Finland went out of the Second World War. A chained to a rock Finnish sniper-kamikadze Veikko managed to set himself free. Ivan, a captain of the Soviet Army, arrested by the Front Secret Police 'Smersh', has a narrow escape. They are soldiers of the two enemy armies. A Lapp woman Anni gives a shelter to both of them at her farm. For Anni they are not enemies, but just men.


Invasion
2020 · 2h 9m
country: Russia
Two years after the fall of the alien ship, the life of a young woman from Moscow has been changed forever. Her growing powers are now at the focus of both human and celestial investigation: an alien force takes an interest in her, and will stop short of nothing, including an invasion. Can love and compassion save humanity, when faced with a much greater and more demanding test this time?


Fidelity
2019 · 1h 22m
country: Russia
A successful obstetrician living a seemingly stable married life begins to question her relationship when emotional and physical intimacy fades. Suspecting her husband of betrayal, she seeks connection elsewhere, stepping into a hidden world that offers desire, control, and escape. As she navigates this parallel existence, the boundaries between loyalty, loneliness, and self-discovery slowly begin to blur.


Sputnik
2020 · 1h 53m
country: Russia
At the height of the Cold War, a Soviet spacecraft crash lands after a mission gone awry, leaving the commander as its only survivor. After a renowned Russian psychologist is brought in to evaluate the commander’s mental state, it becomes clear that something dangerous may have come back to Earth with him…


About Love
2017 · 1h 35m
country: Russia
Beautiful Nina lives happily married, as she saw it, with intelligent Alexandr, professor of Sinology. But the debt for the mortgage begins to disturb the relationship of spouses. One day she meets Sergey, the head of the bank where her husband has debt, and so begins their passionate relationships. The story of the relationship with married Sergey hardly promises happiness, but Nina realizes that for the first time she feels true love.


Balkan Line
2019 · 2h 10m
country: Russia
After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Yugoslav army pulls out of Kosovo region, leaving Serbian people at the mercy of the Albanian UCK. A small band of soldiers must take over the Slatina airport, and hold it until the Russian peacekeepers arrive.


Plyaska smerti
2015 · 25m
country: Latvia
A group of teenagers riding in a car for a picnic. On the way, one of the guys accidentally shoots a kidnapped girl from a car overtaken on the phone. The guy decides not to tell anyone anything, and soon terrible things start happening to him.


Attraction
2017 · 1h 57m
country: Russia
After an alien ship crash lands in a Russian city, many who see the inside and the occupants start to question their own existence while others demand the aliens leave Earth.


The Last Station
2009 · 1h 52m
country: Germany
A historical drama that illustrates Russian author Leo Tolstoy's struggle to balance fame and wealth with his commitment to a life devoid of material things. The Countess Sofya, wife and muse to Leo Tolstoy, uses every trick of seduction on her husband's loyal disciple, whom she believes was the person responsible for Tolstoy signing a new will that leaves his work and property to the Russian people.


Battle for Sevastopol
2015 · 1h 50m
country: Russia
The story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the most successful female sniper in history.


Gogol. Viy
2018 · 1h 39m
country: Russia
A mysterious Dark Horseman slays young girls near the village of Dikanka, and he has already butchered 11 ladies. Nikolai Gogol, a scribe from Saint Petersburg has to take charge of the investigation, but the closer he gets to solving the case, the more fits he has, causing macabre visions. When he learns the next victim is his beloved, Liza, he doubts that he can protect her and resist the murderer. Fortunately, he meets somebody who can help him: Khoma Brut, the witch hunter, martial artist and philosopher. Together they spend three dreadful nights in an old chapel reading the funeral service for Ulyana, the witch, and calling upon the ghastly evil spirit Viy.


Sunflower
1970 · 1h 49m
country: Italy
After World War II, a woman refuses to believe her husband, missing on the Russian front, is dead. Flashbacks reveal their brief courtship and marriage. Years later, she travels to Russia with his photo, determined to find him. What will she discover?


Salyut-7
2017 · 1h 46m
country: Russia
USSR, June 1985. After contact with the Salyut 7 space station is lost, cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh dock with the empty, frozen craft, and bring her back to life. Based on actual events.


About My Mom and Me
2024 · 1h 44m
country: Russia
USSR, 1970s. Lena has a real talent for writing - her school essays reflect with incredible precision and warmth not only the world around her and her loved ones, but also her personal experiences, dreams, and hopes. Her mother works in documentary film, and she has her own problems and dreams. It so happened that the daughter's adolescence coincides with her mother's midlife crisis. The story of their touching relationship is told with a kind smile and notes of sadness.


Panfilov's 28 Men
2016 · 1h 45m
country: Russia
USSR, November, 1941. Based on the account by Vasiliy Koroteev this is the story of Panifilov's Twenty-Eight, a group of twenty-eight Red Army soldiers commanded by General Ivan Panfilov, that stopped the advance on Moscow of a column of fifty-four Nazi tanks of the 11th Panzer Division for several days. Though lightly armed they fight tirelessly and defiantly, with uncommon bravery and unwavering dedication, to protect Moscow and their Motherland.


Foreigner
1937 · 24m
country: Unknown
A small river separates Soviet lands from the territory of one of the capitalist powers. On the other side, the girl Pebble lives with her peasant father. One morning, after running after a cow across a river, the girl crossed to the Soviet side. She only spends one day in the kindergarten of the border post, but this day remains in her memory for the rest of her life. Seeing the bright, spacious rooms, the beautiful clothes of the children, delicious plentiful food, and many toys, the girl remembers with bitterness her dilapidated hut, where there is not always bread for dinner. Caressed by the Soviet people, in a new dress, with a bunch of donated toys, Pebble goes back home. A rude shout from a gendarme officer brings the girl back to bitter reality.


Kalashnikov AK-47
2020 · 1h 45m
country: Russia
A Russian military propaganda film about the tank commander Kalashnikov, severely injured in battle in 1941. The accident leaves him incapacitated and unable to return to the front line. While recovering in the hospital, he begins creating the initial sketches of what will become one of the world’s most legendary weapons. A self-taught inventor is only 29 when he develops the now iconic assault riffle — the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.


On the Edge
2020 · 1h 54m
country: Russia
The film's two main protagonists are Russia's best saber fencers. One of them has long been in the limelight, the other only recently made it into the national team and has been winning almost every tournament since. The two athletes begin to fight for supremacy both on and off the arena.


The Spacewalker
2017 · 2h 20m
country: Russia
March 1965. In the heat of the Cold War, the USA and the USSR are competing for supremacy in space. What both superpowers aim for in this race, is to be the first to have a man walk in outer space. To accomplish that, no price is too high and no risk is too great. Now it’s up to the unlikely duo of a seasoned war veteran and a hot-headed test-pilot to fulfill this mission. Two men in a tiny spaceship, without proper testing, facing the complete unknown. They were supposed to do what no man has done before—and no man imagined what would happen next.


Kraken
2025 · 2h 14m
country: Russia
A Russian missile submarine disappears without trace during a secret mission in the Greenland Sea. A vessel is deployed to search for it, captained by the brother of the missing submarine’s commander. The search crew is tasked with locating the submarine and preventing a top-secret weapon from falling into enemy hands. Meanwhile, a geological research operation at the North Pole awakens the Kraken, a giant deep-water monster with an incredible ability to camouflage and an uncanny intelligence. As the search party narrows in on the missing submarine, they will encounter the legendary creature of the deep.


Youngling
2026 · 1h 54m
country: Russia
An apolitical rapper from Donetsk volunteers to go to Mariupol to rescue his mother from the besieged city.


Sugar Baby
2024 · 1h 43m
country: Russia
Love comes without asking. Often not to those, not so and not then. Can a genuine feeling survive when everything started wrong and the whole world is against it? Give up everything or give up? Burn or survive?


Leto
2018 · 2h 6m
country: France
Leningrad, one summer in the early eighties. Smuggling LPs by Lou Reed and David Bowie, the underground rock scene is boiling ahead of the Perestroika. Mike and his beautiful wife Natasha meet with young Viktor Tsoi. Together with friends, they will change the destiny of rock’n’roll in the Soviet Union.


The Pilot: A Battle for Survival
2021 · 1h 45m
country: Russia
December of 1941, Northwestern Front. A German tank column is moving towards Moscow. During a mission to stop the enemy advance, Nikolai Komlev's IL-2 is shot down. Komlev manages to crash-land his plane in a remote forest clearing. He's alive, but far from friendly territory. Ahead of him is a relentless trial of severe physical and mental endurance. After battling hunger and extreme cold, evading packs of wolves and detachments of Nazi soldiers, the wounded Komlev finally makes it back to safety. But there he faces another challenge, the most life-changing of them all.


Anna Karenina
1997 · 1h 48m
country: Russia
In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.


The Abyss
2026 · 1h 20m
country: Russia
Dasha and Sasha are a happy newlywed. A honeymoon and a parachute jump over the foothills of Mount Elbrus are supposed to be the beginning of their new life. But fate intervenes. The pilot turns out to be Artyom - Dasha's ex, a man she didn't even want to remember. When the plane crashes, the three are forced to jump without training. The lines get tangled. They miraculously survive - but find themselves suspended over a mountain abyss amid raging forest fires. Dasha finds herself between two men, each of whom is tied to her life. One is the present. The other is an unhealed past.


Leviathan
2014 · 2h 21m
country: Russia
In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.


Ice
2018 · 1h 58m
country: Russia
Contemporary Russia. Nadya gives up her dream of becoming a champion figure skater when she is hospitalized with an injury. But then she meets Sasha, a hockey player, who decides to teach her to believe in herself and her dream again.


Loveless
2017 · 2h 2m
country: Belgium
Zhenya and Boris are going through a vicious divorce marked by resentment, frustration and recriminations. Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page – even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until, after witnessing one of their fights, Alyosha disappears.


The Last Frontier
2020 · 2h 10m
country: Russia
The story of the Podolsk cadets’ heroic stand outside Moscow in October 1941. Cadets were sent to the Ilyinsky line, fighting alongside units from the Soviet 43rd Army to hold back the German advance until reinforcements arrived. Hopelessly outnumbered, young men laid down their lives in a battle lasting almost two weeks to obstruct the far superior German forces advancing towards Moscow. Around 3,500 cadets and their commanding officers were sent to hold up the last line of defense outside Moscow. Most of them remained there for eternity.


The Green Elephant
1999 · 1h 27m
country: Russia
Two Russian prisoners are abused mentally and physically.
Russian and Soviet cinema produced the montage theory that underpins modern editing, along with Tarkovsky's long-form spiritual epics — two traditions about as far apart as film gets.
Drama is cinema's widest category and its default setting — character, conflict, and consequence without genre machinery. It's where most awards conversation lives, and where directors go when the story is the effect.