THE SNOW MAIDEN is another Russian fairy tale, this one based on a famous Russian play from the 19th century. It has a noticeably more musical streak this time around, with the characters often breaking into song at a moment's notice, and it's pretty decent in that respect, the music very old-fashioned and 'folky' in tone.Otherwise, the film is strictly by the numbers. The titular character is made out of snow and gets involved with various others in a plot incorporating the usual melodrama, romance, and villainry. Some of the dialogue is quite loud and headache-inducing although the film wins plaudits for the swamp-man character. The snowbound locations are well-realised but the story doesn't quite grip as much as other fare like JACK FROST, and it feels quite dated these days.

Any fans of fairy-tales, music and beautiful visuals will fall in love with Snegurochka(Snow Maiden). It is gorgeous to look at, the village and winter sets are beautifully evoked, the costumes are evocative and very Russian and the colours are enough to take your breath away. The photography is simple but never simplistic and smoothly moving from frame to frame. And the atmosphere is very authentic. The Russian folk music is so good and so well sung that if there were a soundtrack album available I would waste no hesitation in getting it. The story was a tragic and moving story to begin with, it is also one that touches me all the time that I understand completely why it's so famous. This story is told just beautifully here, and the ending is just heart-rending, it was to begin with but the full thrust of it comes when you actually see it on screen. The direction is well and smoothly handled, no signs of slackness or over-ambition that would have potential to distract from the simplicity of this story. And while the acting may seem stilted to some, I didn't think so at all, I found it effective and true to character. Yevghenia Filonova in particular is very poignant as the Snow Maiden of the title. In conclusion, beautiful and heartbreaking, I see no reason for people not to see it. Just a note for opera fans, this is not to be confused with Rimsky Korsakov's opera of the same name. If you do don't worry as it's easy to do, it happened with me a couple of days ago with the Russian film version of The Tale of Tsar Sultan, another great Russian fairy-tale film and another one to have an opera based of it by Rimsky-Korsakov. 10/10 Bethany Cox