An Ordinary Woman

What it’s about

Marina is in her late thirties, runs a small flower shop, and has a family that looks settled: her husband is a surgeon, and their two daughters are in education. To everyone around her, life seems happy and ordinary. But behind this respectable surface she runs a brothel, keeping it secret from everyone. The danger becomes acute when one of the women who works for her is found dead, threatening to expose what she has been hiding.

What hooks you

Anna Mikhalkova won a Golden Eagle for her work in this series. The directors Boris Khlebnikov and Natalya Meshchaninova previously made the drama Arrhythmia, and the catalogue description calls this a crime drama about a secret life. The premise of a mother with a double moral standard gives the story its charge.

Who it’s for

It is worth a look for anyone who likes crime stories where a respectable everyday life is built on a hidden business. It is worth a look for anyone who enjoys dramas about family secrets, prostitution and the Russian criminal world.