The Optimists

TV Series
2017
1h

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Evgenia Brik, Severija Janusauskaite, Artyom Bystrov, Rinal Mukhametov, and Egor Koreshkov in The Optimists (2017)

During the Cold War, Russian spy brings 1960s aesthetics to Khrushchev's era.Unveiling Russian-American espionage acts and personal lives impacted by the fragile geopolitical climate, openin... Read allDuring the Cold War, Russian spy brings 1960s aesthetics to Khrushchev's era.Unveiling Russian-American espionage acts and personal lives impacted by the fragile geopolitical climate, opening at the 1959 American National Exhibition.During the Cold War, Russian spy brings 1960s aesthetics to Khrushchev's era.Unveiling Russian-American espionage acts and personal lives impacted by the fragile geopolitical climate, opening at the 1959 American National Exhibition.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

172

YOUR RATING

6User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

Episodes13

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TopTop-rated 1 season 2017

Photos15

+ 9

Top cast38

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Vladimir Vdovichenkov

Grigory Biryukov

• 2017

Severija Janusauskaite

Ruta Blaumane

• 2017

Artyom Bystrov

Leonid Korneev

• 2017

Egor Koreshkov

Andrey Muratov

• 2017

Rinal Mukhametov

Arkady Golub

• 2017

Evgenia Brik

Galina Volina

• 2017

Anatoliy Beliy

Nikolai Chernykh

• 2017

Jonathan Salway

• 2017

Yuri Maslak

Secretary of the German Embassy

• 2017

Margarita Adaeva

Klava

• 2017

Andrey Egorov

Aleksey Bykov

• 2017

Ekaterina Shumakova

Tonya

• 2017

Yuriy Kuznetsov

Valentin Vareynikov

• 2017

Kristina Babushkina

Tamara Ivanovna

• 2017

Maksim Vitorgan

Albert Pokrovskiy

• 2017

Mikhail Khomyakov

Petr Shuyko

• 2017

Cazimir Liske

Keysi

• 2017

Aleksandr Feklistov

Igor Fedotov

• 2017

User reviews6

6.9172

Featured reviews

8luckyfay

Russia LIGHT.

What an enjoyable series! I've loved all things Russian (except the government) since I did a cruise on a Russian ship way back when. Delightful two weeks through the Caribbean. Lovely, hard working people, always up for fun, singing, dancing, drinking, clapping loud and long. This film brought all that back. It certainly has a serious side, but it doesn't linger on angst. No second season?.

6iconians

Lacking several things.

I wanted to like this show. After 4 episodes, I am done. To me, it seems to be weak. Overall, it's underwhelming and feels like you're wasting time as stories don't have any depth or detail or nuances.

The pace is much faster than a classic USSR movies, which is fine, but it also lacks the depth and detail of the USSR movies that many of us like.

10kpickvance

Brilliant series!

It is a fantastic insight into Russian life in the Soviet Union! People were exactly like this to each other: both very helpful and utterly deceitful! The characters were truly wonderful: I think, i have met all of them, back in the days - from the older secretary lady to ALL the main and not so leading figures in the films here!!! So perfectly pictured. I cannot wait for a second series, hopefully equally long as this one! Best thing for a decade on the BBC, even though, i do love most BBC4 imported series! Please, please hurry up: produce the second series, can't wait!

9thomasjbollinger

Great - even for people NOT interested in Soviet Movies

I must admit I am very interested in this time, the time just before the cold war, when USA and Russia somehow were still together in having won WWII. But even if you're not, I bet you'll like the series. It's interesting to see that time from the other side. The story is good, the acting is great, the actors are great and the styling is perfect. It's good to see for once not the poor aggressive vodka drinking russian mafia but a time full of new things and hope for a better future. I can not recommend this series enough - it's indeed a very optimistic piece of film making from Russia.

7awg-07529

Stylized and done well

The series does an excellent job of being accurate with set details. Clearly they took their cues from Mad Men. The costumes, sets etc are all first rate. the intro is one of the best. Dialogue and character portrayal is an odd mix of serious and in depth and semi sitcom. Not sure if they are to be archetypes but the result is a show that gives you post card views on events from that time. It's not really a serious deep and complex gritty series like an Ozark or and that's ok. It does seem odd that no one seems to swear in the series at all. Worth watching just to get a unique perspective on a critical time in world history.