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Wind in the Face (Ветер в Лицо) is a Russian-language melodrama TV mini-series, produced by Star Media and directed by Nikolay Mikhaylov. The series was originally released on May 5, 2014, on Russia’s Channel One. There are 4 episodes, all of which are available for free on YouTube with English subtitles.
The series is about a young girl called Dina, whose happy life comes tumbling down in one night after she is betrayed by both her grandfather and lover. She leaves home with her new-born baby and goes on several adventures. In the course of these, she learns the truth about her own birth and finds the love of her life.
Below, you will find the series premier, a synopsis of the first episode and a brief analysis of the series and its critical reception.
Watch the series premier on YouTube with English subtitles here.
For more information, follow this link to its official page.
Synopsis
The series begins with a young girl Dina Chaykina, played by Alina Lanina, on her way to see her boyfriend, Victor (Vitya) Simakin, played by Dmitry Smirnov. She takes a shortcut and runs into a fight scene. A police investigator, Maxim Korenev, played by Evgeny Pronin, is getting beaten up by two men. After they leave, Dina helps Maxim. Maxim offers to take her out to dinner and asks for her number, but Dina avoids answering by telling him about her boyfriend.
Dina is late to meet Vitya and they miss their bus back to their hometown of Murom. She suggests he stay at her house. In the morning, Dina tells her grandfather, Leonid Fedoseevich, about their upcoming marriage, and while he is not happy, he gives her his blessing.
Dina gets a job as a trainee at a clothing boutique. Her boss overhears her gossiping and is left with a bad impression. She considers firing her, but doesn’t when she look at her application and sees who her mother is. The boss is from Murom too.
After work, Dina meets with Vitya, who is in a bad mood. His job search as not been successful. Dina suggests he try one more place but he has given up. Dina goes there by herself and successfully gets him the job.
The next morning, Vitya is helping Leonid move an old cabinet. Leonid is proud of his furniture, but Vitya argues that it is old and should be replaced. The tension between them grows.
At the service station, Vitya is invited by a colleague who claims to be also from Murom to work a special all-night shift and earn a full month’s salary all at once. Meanwhile, Dina finds her grandfather lying unconscious on the floor of the apartment.
Vitya works the shift and spends the money on an engagement ring. On his way home, he runs into Maya, a middle-aged lady with a broken-down sportscar. He helps her and gives her the service station card. She appears to be interested in him.
Dina tell Vitya that she’s learned that her grandfather has cancer. He gives her the ring. In need of money, Dina suggests that they sell the apartment, but Vitya wants to find a lawyer first to broker the deal. However, the hospital needs money to proceed with the treatment, so Dina sells the apartment the next day. Visiting her grandfather afterwards, he tells her that there is something that her mother does not want her to know, but is stopped from telling her by a nurse who says that visiting hours are over.
Dina tells Vitya she’s sold the apartment. He is not happy about it, but they have no choice but to start packing up. Maya later comes to have Vitya look at her car and then takes him to fancy restaurant that she owns.
The hospital calls to tell Dina her grandfather has died. She also finds out she was scammed on the apartment, and she only receives half of the money promised. At work, Vitya gets another offer from his coworker but this time who tells him that, if given $6,000 dollars, he will give Vitya triple back. Vitya accept and tells Dina he will be working overnight again. However, he spends the night with Maya instead.
Vitya asks Maya to lend him $6,000 dollars, but Maya become angry and kicks him out. Dina agrees to give him the money, but Vitya is then scammed by his coworker. Dina says that she remains positive about their future, however. Meanwhile, Dina’s boss and Maya are having dinner together and talking about Vitya. Maya calls him and tells him they are flying to the Emirates together for two weeks. Back home, Vitya lies to Dina and says that he is flying to Germany for work.
Analysis
Wind in the Face is a fine piece for a melodrama fan. With excellent acting and an engaging plot, the series takes the audience on a wild ride with ups and downs while showing them the reality of life through the lens of the main character. At the beginning of the show, young Dina lives a happy life with no worries in the world, but as the story goes on, she learns the world is not as simple and beautiful as she thought it was. She grows face this world, though, and watching her become an admirable heroine makes this show an interesting watch.
In addition to the realistic element, the value of this show also lies in the roles of strong, successful, and beautiful ladies. In Wind in the Face, every character is faced with some kind of life issue, however, the females represented are truly smart and independent, which is not entirely common in Russian-language films.
While the baby she soon has will be the main driver of the storyline, online users sometimes criticized the series showing Dina getting pregnant before getting married.
Currently, Wind in the Face receives 6.988/10 on kino.teatr.ru. It has no ratings on IMDb yet. It appears to be one of the less-known Russian series among the Western audience.
