Plot synopsis

Slowly but surely, the creators of "Chronicles..." reached 1951, the main character of which was the unforgettable Alexander Vertinsky, or more precisely, his return with his family to the USSR.
The Soviet leadership began to play the so-called "emigrant card" immediately after the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War. Then, in the late 40s, the authority of the USSR on the world stage had grown many times over, and it seemed to many that now on one sixth of the land, if not already, then soon positive changes would occur - brutal Bolshevism together with the "iron curtain" would fall, a return to truly democratic values ​​would begin and a decisive rejection of totalitarianism would occur. The first place among these dreamers was occupied by Russian emigrants, whose inescapable longing for the lost and desecrated Motherland, alas, completely deprived them of common sense and the ability to look at things realistically. And the state of affairs was as follows - overcrowded concentration camps from the Baltics to the Far East, the most severe poverty and devastation as a method and opportunity to escalate the same camp discipline in the country and, as a consequence, total lack of freedom in the face of the so-called "ideological aggression from the West".
And so, dozens of families of re-emigrants came to this country of their own free will, in their right mind and sober memory (at the invitation of the Soviet government and personally of Comrade Molotov). In particular, from France.
Perhaps only Nikolai Svanidze, of the professionals now actively working on television, allows himself to publicly reflect on our recent history as something absolutely apocalyptic, in the sense of worthy of repentance for many, many generations of compatriots. It was precisely this intonation that came in handy when talking about those hundreds of unfortunate, deceived and confused in the "damned Russian" questions re-emigrants who came to help Comrade Stalin build a democratic society.
It seems unnecessary to say that no one in the Land of Soviets needed this help.
Moreover, bypassing Moscow, the trains formed in East Berlin went straight to the east - Inta, Taishet, Magadan, Salekhard.
Russia is vast, and there is simply nowhere to retreat further...
The story of Alexander Vertinsky, told with the utmost correctness and tact, became only a part, a projection of what was happening then in the USSR, which had just emerged from a terrible war. The actor, who was far from young at that time, his young wife and very young daughters had to endure such trials that it is impossible to even imagine in a sane state of mind. However, according to the creators of the film (author and project manager Marina Zhukova), all this was only a small part of that monstrous mosaic that the Kremlin leaders laid out with devilish ingenuity.

Commentaries

Сценарии телесериала «Исторические хроники с Николаем Сванидзе», с 1934го по 1953 год. [Scénarios de la série télévisée « Chroniques historiques avec Nikolaï Svanidzé », de 1934 à 1953], Marina ZHUKOVA, Амфора, 2014

- Screenplay

Selected in the following festivals or events :

- Historical Chronicles with Nikolay Svanidze, (kinoglaz.fr), 2026

Photos, videos, texts

Aleksandr VERTINSKI (Александр Николаевич ВЕРТИНСКИЙ) 1889-1957