Dom s liliyami

Simple in appearance, this is quite an engaging Russian soap saga about an orphan in the post-WWII Russian communist party high ranking official's family. The story keeps you watching and forgetting the low production values. The first four or five episodes go smoothly; then we move forward in time and the spectacular child actress (the real life daughter of the protagonist Sergey Makhovikov ) grows older and we get an array of less interesting actresses coupled by a pot pourrri of 40+ men pretending to be students in their twenties. Olesya Sudzilovskaya gives a tour de force performance as a wicked/lovable stepmother; the series is worth watching for her performance alone. Sergey Makhovikov and her daughter, the teenager Sasha Makhovikova are true flag bearers of Russian acting school. I have no idea if this is available anywhere in the world, but as soap sagas go, this one is definitely worth a watch.