The Barber of Siberia (1998)
"Sibirskiy tsiryulnik" (original title)

Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant, ... See full summary »

Director:

Nikita Mikhalkov

Writers:

Nikita Mikhalkov (story), Rustam Ibragimbekov (screenplay),

Stars:

Julia Ormond, Oleg Menshikov, Aleksey Petrenko

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julia Ormond	...	Dzheyn (as Dzhuliya Ormond)
Oleg Menshikov	...	Tolstoy
Aleksey Petrenko	...	Radlov
Richard Harris	...	Makkreken (as Richard Kharris)
Vladimir Ilin	...	Mokin
Marat Basharov	...	Polievskiy
Nikita Tatarenkov	...	Alibekov
Georgiy Dronov	...	Nazarov
Artyom Mikhalkov	...	Buturlin
Daniel Olbrychski	...	Kopnovskiy (as Daniel Olbrykhskiy)
Marina Neyolova	...	Mat Tolstogo
Avangard Leontev	...	Dyadya Nikolya
Anna Mikhalkova	...	Dunyasha
Robert Hardy	...	Forsten (as Robert Khardi)
Elizabeth Spriggs	...	Perepelkina (as Elizabet Spriggs)

Storyline

Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant, who falls in love with a young Russian officer, André, and spends the next 10 years perfecting the harvester and pursuing her love, who has been exiled to Siberia.

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Plot Keywords:

siberia | lumber | military officer | military academy | misunderstanding | 

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Taglines:

He's Russian. That explains a lot.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

Russia France Italy Czech Republic

Language:

Russian English French German

Release Date:

20 February 1999 (Russia)

Also Known As:

The Barber of Siberia

Filming Locations:

Aldeia do Meco, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Portugal

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Studio Trite, Caméra One, France 2 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

180 min 275 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film opened the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

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Goofs

American soldiers wear gas masks, which were not used by troops until WWI. In the US Army, they appeared first in 1917.

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Soundtracks

"Le nozze di Figaro"
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

User Reviews

A story of love, friendship and honor, not a reality quest!

I've seen this movie a lot of times, and loved it every time. Surely it is not very truthful story from the historical point of view. It also isn't very realistic and probably it wasn't made to be one. Who says that every movie nowdays should be? Sometimes you want to see something more fairy-tale like. Though you should remember, this is not one of those happy ones. From mine point of view the main idea of this movie was to show the emotions of youth in those days in Russia. Friendship, love and honor were the virtues that were truly valued. Every one of those emotions were shown in the best possible way. The things I didn't like in that movie, were the overplayed roles of some characters and too long scenes showing the russian passion for drinking(???). But those shouldn't be that big obstacles for not loving everything else. If you didn't like the story of this film, you should watch it at least because of the incredible performance of the russian actor Oleg Menshikov, which dimmes everyone else appearance, even the fabulous Julia Ormond. He plays with such passion that even the fact that he plays much more younger character than himself is not noticeable. I think that everyone who is looking for real emotions on screen, should give this movie a chance, and maybe in the end you will be suprised how much you really enjoyed it.