Marie, disillusioned with her husband's apparent unwillingness to stand up to the state, begins a passionate affair with Sacha. Together, they plot to escape Russia by taking advantage of Sacha's position as a member of the Soviet swim team. The stark beauty of the Russian landscape is set tantalisingly against the sheer brutality of the Communist regime. Scenes of romance and tenderness are tempered by the knowledge that everyone is being watched and nobody can be trusted. But unfortunately, Wargnier fails to conjure a story compelling enough to live up to his stirring images.
Communism is bad, democracy is good, and shades of grey are all but nonexistent.
Instead, he concentrates mostly on the more extreme aspects of the regime, such as a Gestapo agent who is almost cartoonish in his villainy. The result is that Wargnier loses touch with his characters. None of the leads enjoy much depth, and Menchikov is particularly ill-served by the flimsy, tepid Alexei. Both Bonnaire and Bodrov bring a lot of vitality to their roles, but have little personality. Wargnier never effectively conveys the ties between the characters.