The Beginning

The Beginning

91 mins | Drama, Comedy, Romance | Oct. 12, 1970

A talented girl from the provincial Russian town Pasha Stroganova dreams of becoming an actress. She plays the role of Baba Yaga in the amateur theatre — and does it so organically that the visiting filmmaker offers her the most difficult role in the historical drama about Joan of Arc. She was given not only great acting talent, but the talent of deep, selfless love. A dream comes true: she is invited to the main role, and she begins a completely different life, full of real creative torment, insights and true happiness.

The Beginning

91 mins | Drama, Comedy, Romance | Oct. 12, 1970

The Beginning
A talented girl from the provincial Russian town Pasha Stroganova dreams of becoming an actress. She plays the role of Baba Yaga in the amateur theatre — and does it so organically that the visiting filmmaker offers her the most difficult role in the historical drama about Joan of Arc. She was given not only great acting talent, but the talent of deep, selfless love. A dream comes true: she is invited to the main role, and she begins a completely different life, full of real creative torment, insights and true happiness.
IMDb rating 7.7
Producers Lenfilm
Original title Начало
Directors Gleb Panfilov
Writers Gleb Panfilov, Yevgeni Gabrilovich

Cast

Inna Churikova

as Pasha Stroganova

Leonid Kuravlyov

as Arkadiy

Mikhail Kononov

as Pavlik

Tatyana Bedova

as Toma

Yuri Klepikov

as movie director

Gennadi Beglov

as Odinokov

Yuri Vizbor

as Stepan Ivanovich

Vyacheslav Vasilyev

as Stepan Vitalyevich

Yevgeni Lebedev

as Cauchon

Vsevolod Sobolev

as Massieu

Gerasim Zhukovsky

as Boriska

Lyudmila Arinina

as an official on the selection of actors at the film studio (uncredited)

Irina Gubanova

as assistant director (uncredited)

Efim Kopelyan

as Cauchon (voice) (uncredited)