“First Love” (1994)
In the film adaptation of Turgenev’s novel of the same name, Mikhalkova played one of her first leading roles. She played 21-year-old Princess Zinaida Zasekina, who came with her mother to relax at the country house. In the neighboring house lives Volodya, 16 years old, who falls in love with Zinaida. What should a young man do if he accidentally sees his father entering the room of his beloved, that same girl?
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In this image it is pleasant to see the very young Mikhalkova. She managed not to fade in comparison with such titans of cinema as Oleg Yankovsky, Marina Neelova, Irina Muravyova and Alexander Abdulov. This is the case when the classics of Russian cinema surprisingly embody images of literary classics.
“Communication” (2006)
The heroes of Anna Mikhalkova and Mikhail Porechenkov are two mature adults. He is a metropolitan businessman and she is a talented advertiser from St. Petersburg. And the most important thing is that they are both married. But a chance encounter turns them both into a whirlwind of love, guilt and fear. Now these people can only be happy on short dates somewhere between the two capitals.
This is an honest account of the nature of adultery without attempting to judge or stigmatize.
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“My dad is Baryshnikov” (2010)
This is a story about how sometimes thoughts and dreams become material and can, despite everything, endow a person with extraordinary abilities. In the center of the plot is the modest Borya Fokin, who studies at the Bolshoi Theater ballet school. The boy does not remember her father at all and her mother discreetly talks to him about some secret mission, while the head of the family supposedly disappeared. Of course, Borya does not believe in her inventions and, in search of the truth, she comes to the conclusion that she is the son of the legendary choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov.
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In this film, Anna Mikhalkova plays the mother of this dreamy boy, who tries with all her might to protect her son from disappointment. The latter, however, will not ignore him when the news about the “star father” becomes the main topic at the ballet school.
“Let’s Get Divorced” (2019)
Dr. María started a race with herself for a brilliant professional result. She does not have time to dedicate to herself, because she is the main breadwinner of a family where her husband took care of the children and household chores. In the eternal quest to earn an extra penny, while still being a good and attentive mother, she lost sight of an important aspect: her beloved husband. And he, according to the classics of the genre, met a younger lady.
This comedy will tell about the ups and downs of family life that every second woman faces. The heroine, beautifully played by Mikhalkova, evokes sympathy or pity, but at the end of the film only absolute admiration.
“Tear it up and throw it away” (2021)
The heroine Mikhalkova, an iron woman named Vera Pavlovna, is raising her granddaughter alone, whose mother is in prison due to a confrontation with her ex-lover. After getting out of prison, her failed mother wants to take her daughter with her. But the grandmother is willing to do anything to prevent the reunion from happening. Who will win? And is it even possible to emerge victorious from this situation?
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Behind funny dialogues and scenes, like an American Western, hides the story of a difficult separation from parents. The director turned all those wounds that the closest people inflict on each other with words into real wounds from fists, knives and bullets.
