A Black Rose Is an Emblem of Sorrow, a Red Rose an Emblem of Love (1990) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language

1990 · 139 mins · Russian

Directed by

Sergey Solovyov

Starring

Aleksandr Bashirov, Tatyana Drubich, Aleksandr Zbruev, Sergei Makarov, Boris Grebenshchikov, Ludmila Savelyeva

Set on Moscow’s historic Old Arbat Street, a hub of street vendors, struggling artists and musicians, the film follows a young boy named Mitiya who shares a cramped apartment with an eccentric older companion. Around them appear a cast of idiosyncratic neighbours, turning the building into a surreal micro‑cosm that reflects the fragile, unsettled society of the Soviet Union’s final days.