Nirvana

In the early 2000s Russia, a young woman named Alisa, Olga Sutulova, moves to Saint Petersburg in search of a brighter future. She finds work as a nurse and rents a small, perpetually dim room in an apartment where light rarely reaches the corners. The building’s walls hold whispers of hardship, and her neighbors are part of a tight-knit circle of drug users—a bartender named Vel and her boyfriend, Valera “The Dead” Artur Smolyaninov. Disillusioned with people, Vel trusts almost no one, yet one person still tries to offer support: Valera. Still, their tenuous bond becomes strained when Valera begins an affair with Alisa, and Vel soon uncovers the betrayal, sparking a tense conflict between the two women.

The tension between Vel and Alisa shifts and softens when Alisa later saves Vel’s life, forging an unexpected friendship that brings a fragile sense of solidarity to the bleak, wind-swept rooms they share. Around this time, Valera disappears. Vel initially suspects another binge, but it becomes clear he has been kidnapped by criminals who owe him a debt too large to ignore. The criminals send Vel Valera’s severed finger and demand payment for his release, a brutal reminder of the stakes they’re playing with. To help, Alisa steps up, bravely risking her own safety as they pool their resources and go deeper into debt to raise the required sum.

When Valera is freed, he tries to slip away again, but Alisa confronts him, determined not to let him vanish with the money they’ve scraped together. The aftermath is heavy with consequence: Vel dies of a drug overdose, a tragedy that resonates through the cramped rooms and the two women who remain. In the wake of her death, Vel appears to Alisa as a hallucination born of Alisa’s own heavy drug use, urging her to abandon drugs and to imagine a longer, fuller life. The apparition pushes Alisa to consider leaving Saint Petersburg for Moscow, a prospect that feels like a bold rupture from the city’s dangerous rhythms.

Clarity comes slowly as Alisa gathers her belongings and steps out of the apartment for good. The film closes with a quiet, panoramic view of Saint Petersburg’s streets, the city unfolding in front of her as she walks away, toward an uncertain but perhaps brighter horizon.

Last Updated: January 08, 2026 at 08:32