Admiral

During the Mosfilm production in 1964, an elderly Russian noblewoman is cast as an extra. A political commissar demands her dismissal because of her aristocratic background, but director Sergei Bondarchuk refuses, insisting she stay. The decision frames a recurring tension between politics and art that echoes through the film’s story.

Kolchak's ship lays naval mines in the Baltic Sea and blocks the German SMS Friedrich Carl. The crew prays to God for protection as they lure the enemy ship toward their minefield and it sinks. The bold tactic marks a turning point in Kolchak’s rise.

At a naval base in the Grand Duchy of Finland, Kolchak is promoted to rear admiral and assigned increased command. He is introduced to Anna Timiryova, the wife of his subordinate Sergei Timirev, sparking a powerful, forbidden attraction. Their meeting sets the stage for a personal conflict that will haunt them.

Sofya offers to leave for Petrograd to spare Kolchak from a scandal, but he refuses to sever their marriage. Anna, torn between duty and desire, sends a letter to Kolchak expressing her feelings. Kolchak answers that they can never meet, but confesses his love, deepening their estrangement.

Tsar Nicholas II personally promotes Kolchak to vice admiral and commander of the Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol. The promotion elevates him to one of Imperial Russia's foremost naval leaders. This high status intensifies the political pressures that follow.

Following the February Revolution, Tsarist officers are disarmed and executed at Kronstadt. Sergei narrowly escapes with Anna as order collapses around them. The peril of the upheaval accelerates Kolchak’s involvement in the anti-Bolshevik cause.

A group of enlisted men arrives aboard Kolchak's flotilla demanding that all officers surrender their arms. Kolchak orders obedience from his subordinates, protecting his crew through disciplined response. In a symbolic act of defiance, he throws his sword into the harbour.

Alexander Kerensky summons Kolchak and offers him the position of Minister of Defense on the condition that Imperial Army practices are restored. Kolchak agrees only if those conditions are honored, but Kerensky refuses and suggests exile in the United States instead, arguing that the Allies need him for a Constantinople campaign. The negotiation foreshadows Kolchak’s eventual departure from Russia.

Sofya and their son are rescued from their Crimea home and whisked away to a British ship just before Red Guards attack. The personal escape underscores the cost of the civil war on Kolchak’s family. The separation between Kolchak and his wife becomes a defining sorrow.

In 1918, Anna and Sergei travel the Trans-Siberian Railway, and Anna learns that Kolchak is assembling an anti-Bolshevik army in Omsk. Sergei is dismayed by the turn of events and questions their future. Anna then becomes a nurse in the Civil War, tending wounded.

Kolchak orders the evacuation of Omsk as the Red Army advances and seizes Irkutsk as the new capital of anti-communist Russia, attempting to consolidate the last major stronghold in Siberia. The move signals a desperate bid to sustain the resistance.

Reinforcements led by General Vladimir Kappel arrive too late to save Kolchak. He and his Prime Minister are arrested by the Czechs and handed over to the Reds. They are executed on the banks of the Angara River, their deaths sealed by a final blessing of waters.

The story returns to 1964 at Mosfilm, revealing that Anna is the noblewoman who appears as an extra. As she watches a ballroom rehearsal, she recalls her first meeting with Kolchak and the dance she could never share. The memory folds the film’s present and past into one mournful echo.