Everlasting (Бессмертник in Russian, Безсмертник in Ukrainian) is a Ukrainian melodrama. It spans four seasons, 100 episodes in total. It finished its run in 2015, and was one of the most popular TV shows in Ukraine while it was running. It is mostly in Russian, with Ukrainian subtitles; the star, Marina Dyakonenko, has acted in both Russian and Ukrainian TV shows and movies.
The show is named for a flower, the “everlasting,” which is “small but bright, like the sun,” as one of the characters states. The show takes place in contemporary Ukraine. The main characters is a chemist named Nastya whose goal is to invent new cosmetics. Her life is perfectly happy; she’s dating Igor, who she’s been in love with for years, and everything’s going fine. But her life changes when she finds her estranged sister, Irina—and two months later, she’s on the run from prison and trying to stop Irina’s marriage to Igor.
The first season of the show tells the story of what happens in those two months, following the lives of both sisters before they abruptly collide in a scene in which Nastya forces Irina into the roof of the hotel where her wedding is taking place—and they both fall off the roof.
In interesting trivia about the show, a cosmetics brand was created especially for the show—PAN Cosmetics, the company Igor leads and Nastya initially hopes to work at. Apparently the show’s creators and actors took the science of cosmetics very seriously on set. In addition to its popularity in Ukraine, the show was the first Ukrainian show to be sold to India; it is now being broadcast in Hindi.
The show aired on TV channel Ukraine, the pride of the domestic film/TV industry. Everlasting was the seventh major project the channel took on.
Director: Dmitriy Goldman (Дмитрий Гольдман)
Stars: Marina Dyakonenko (Марина Дьяконенко)), Valentin Tomusyak (Валентин Томусяк), Kateryna Tyshkevych (Катерина Тишкевич), Oleksandr Zadniprovskiy (Олександр Задніпровський), Oleksandr Davydov (Олександр Давидов)), Rymma Zyubina (Римма Зюбіна)
Production company: Front Cinema (Фронт Сінема)
TV channel: Ukraine (Україна)
The show’s official website.
The first episode of the show:
