Elena 2012

Elena Nadezhda Markina is a woman with a working‑class background who finds her life transformed after an unlikely marriage to Vladimir Andrey Smirnov, an elderly business magnate. The film juxtaposes the gleaming, exclusive downtown apartment where the couple resides with a crumbling Khrushchevka in Moscow’s industrial outskirts, highlighting the social and cultural distance between two worlds.

In a hospital where she serves as a nurse, Elena meets Vladimir, and their encounter blossoms into a union that raises her status far beyond her origins. What follows is a portrait of ambition, pride, and the uneasy negotiation of power as Elena adjusts to life among the wealthy and the expectations that come with it.

Elena’s son from a previous marriage lives with his own family in the decaying suburb. He asks Vladimir for money to send his 17-year-old son to university, hoping this move will spare him from compulsory military service. Elena pushes for assistance, but Vladimir makes it clear he will not subsidize Elena’s relatives. He also hints at rewriting his will to favor his daughter from an earlier marriage, leaving Elena with only a modest monthly settlement.

Fearing a reduced place in the new arrangement, Elena resolves to alter the course of events. She schemes to murder Vladimir by swapping his medicines with Viagra, a dangerous gambit given his recent heart attack. When he dies in his bed, she destroys the handwritten version of the new will he had not yet formalized with an attorney, and she phones the authorities to report the death, claiming she has no idea why it happened.

The autopsy ultimately reveals that Vladimir died from the reckless abuse of medications by Vladimir himself, and Elena’s role remains unrecognized. With no formal will, Vladimir dies intestate, and Elena inherits half of his estate while the other half goes to his daughter. She uses a substantial portion of this money to aid her son in paying for his grandson’s education. She also learns that her son’s wife is expecting another child, a development that brings a mixture of relief and quiet tremor.

Keeping Vladimir’s death secretly, Elena’s family holds a quiet celebration and toasts to the pregnancy and to the potential college path for her grandson. The windfall empowers them to leave behind the dilapidated apartment and relocate to Vladimir’s wealthier home, where Elena emerges as the central figure in a life they imagine rebuilding together.