Others have commented on the "reality" of Soviet/Ukrainian life in the 1950s; since I wasn't there, I can't tell. But the initial hurdle for me was to accept that the wife, Marie, somehow first agreed to emigrate with her Russian-born husband and their son, and then once there suddenly coming across as "let me out of here!" I realize couples in love can make stupendously erratic decisions, but this one was rather major -- leaving France, which certainly was in the throes of its own economic and infrastructure collapse after World War II, to the Soviet Union, which was several times worse off. I can see Alexei buying into it through some kind of patriotic altruism, but I can't imagine why Marie would have done so. There isn't, as far as I know, any history of large numbers of French -- Communist or otherwise -- voluntarily moving to the USSR following the war (or anytime, for that matter). They're just too savvy -- they would have said, "Hell, if it's this bad in France in 1946, it's got to be utterly wretched in the Soviet Union. Je ne vais point!" Or words to that effect.
Nonetheless, a great movie to watch if only for the actors, the idea of what living in Kiev might have been like in that period, and even the little sad shots of Sofia towards the end.
Nonetheless, a great movie to watch if only for the actors, the idea of what living in Kiev might have been like in that period, and even the little sad shots of Sofia towards the end.