The Executioner

Set in Leningrad in April 1990, Olga Irina Metlitskaya is a tenacious journalist who endures a brutal assault carried out by three men—Igor Pogodin, Sergey Gazarov; Viktor Goldner, Stanislav Sadalskiy; and Sasha, a sculptor—while their fourth companion, Andrei Arsentyev, Andrey Sokolov looks on. The attack shatters Olga’s sense of safety and drives her toward a stark choice: report the crime or carve out her own path to justice.

Determined not to rely on authorities, Olga pivots from victim to vigilante. She first corners Svetlana, Svetlana Seleznyova—the accomplice who lured her to the attackers—and compels her to reveal the names of the men who hurt her. With the names in hand, Olga sells her diamond earrings and hires Voldemar Karlovich, Algis Matulionis, a feared local crime boss. She asks him to punish the assailants in whatever way he sees fit, signaling a chilling shift from legal recourse to raw retribution.

The web of retribution tightens quickly. Igor’s daughter is violently assaulted, and Olga makes sure the message lands clearly: their score is settled. The fear among the attackers spreads as they realize Olga’s pursuit is relentless and personal. The tension crescendos when Voldemar’s associates push the situation toward a volatile brink, and Andrei is sent to negotiate a settlement. What follows is a confrontation that ends with Olga stabbing Andrei in self-defense, leaving him wounded and under Olga’s care while the conspirators’ paranoia deepens.

As Olga’s vendetta spirals outward, the others scramble to escape. Igor flees to Alushta with his family, while Sasha seizes Igor’s car but meets a grim fate when the vehicle crashes after he tampers with the brakes. Viktor is abducted by Voldemar’s men, who masquerade as KGB agents and reduce him to a drug-addicted, hunted figure. Olga’s attempts to slow the violence falter as she learns the grim truth: the revenge mechanism is now beyond anyone’s control. Viktor dies from an overdose, and Sasha dies as the pursuit tightens its grip.

Olga plans to flee with Andrei, but fate again sabotages her path: their car is compromised, and during a desperate train escape, Andrei is fatally stabbed by one of Voldemar’s men. In the final act, Olga confronts Voldemar in her own home and kills him, haunted by a childhood memory of running to greet her naval officer father, who once gave her a toy dog. The closing image tears between memory and reality—a young Olga running through the woods, joy replaced by a gunshot and a slow fall, a stark symbol of a lost innocence.

Throughout, the film maintains a cool, spare tempo that intensifies the moral weight of vengeance. Olga’s resolve, the creeping paranoia of the men, and the relentless pull of a cycle that cannot be neatly stopped create a bleak meditation on how a single act of violence can spiral into a wider, uncontrollable chain of consequences. The narrative never sensationalizes the carnage; instead, it centers on the psychological toll of retaliation and the final, costly price paid for choosing revenge over restraint.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:30