The Barber of Siberia

The Barber of Siberia
Original Russian language poster
Directed by	Nikita Mikhalkov
Produced by	Michel Seydoux
Written by	Nikita Mikhalkov Rustam Ibragimbekov Rospo Pallenberg
Starring	Julia Ormond Richard Harris Oleg Menshikov Aleksei Petrenko Marina Neyolova Vladimir Ilyin Daniel Olbrychski David Nykl
Music by	Eduard Artemyev Anatoly Dokumentov
Cinematography	Pavel Lebeshev
Edited by	Enzo Meniconi
Release date	Template:Filmd ate
Running time	180 minutes
Country	Russia France Italy Czech Republic United States
Language	Russian English

The Barber of Siberia (Сибирский цирюльник, translit. Sibirskiy tsiryulnik) is a 1998 Russian film that re-united the Academy Award-winning team of director Nikita Mikhalkov and Michel Seydoux. It was screened out of competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected as the Russian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Jane Callahan (Julia Ormond), a beautiful American lady, writes to her son, a cadet at a famous military academy, about a long kept secret. Twenty years ago she arrived in Russia to assist Douglas McCracken (Richard Harris), an obsessive engineer who needs the Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich's patronage to sponsor his invention, a massive machine to harvest the forests. On her travels, she meets two men who would change her life forever: a handsome young cadet Andrej Tolstoy (Oleg Menshikov) with whom she shares a fondness for opera, and the powerful General Radlov who is entranced by her beauty and wants to marry her. Tolstoy and Radlov, much to the surprise and indignation of the latter, become rivals for Jane's love. She confides a deep secret to Tolstoy, promises to marry him, and together they spend a passionate night of love. But later he overhears Jane denying her interest in him to the General, in order to win the general's favour and be granted an audience with the Grand Duke. Distraught, Tolstoy attacks the General who arrests his young rival on false charges and banishes him to Siberia to seven years of hard labor and five years of isolation.