A Foreign Heart
Synopsis
Petr, a kind-hearted baker, falls in love with Elena, a copper-haired nurse, while hospitalized. In a tender moment, she sedates him—and together with her accomplices, replaces his heart with a mechanical one. When she vanishes without a trace, Petr is thrown into a desperate search, driven by hope and despair.
He never finds her. Weighed down by unanswered questions, he attempts to take his own life. When that fails, he enlists in the army—hoping to die on the battlefield.
Wounded and disillusioned, he returns home only to discover that Elena now lives a comfortable, successful family life among the upper middle class. Crushed by this reality, Petr makes his way to the darkened cinema where they once shared happiness. There, in flickering shadows of memory, he faces a final, irreversible choice.
Mission
"A Foreign Heart" reveals the human cost of wars initiated by the powerful and fought by ordinary citizens. The film presents a world where pain and vulnerability are visceral realities, where blood and flesh have tangible weight, and where individual human life has lost its value.
Through Petr's journey, the film examines exploitation, betrayal, trauma, and the search for meaning in a system that views ordinary people as disposable. By following one man's path from loneliness to connection, to betrayal, to military service, and finally to self-destruction, the film reflects on how war corrodes both collective and individual souls, leaving only hollow shells of once-complete human beings.
This is director Anton Dyakov's memorial to the many people being crushed by power and history. As a political refugee who can no longer work in his home country, Dyakov brings his own experience of displacement and loss into this deeply personal project. A story about an ordinary man, whose life holds no value for those who create wars and hatred, is especially needed today—as a reminder of the humanistic idea of the value and fragility of every life.
About the film
"A Foreign Heart" is a 16-minute animated drama directed by Oscar-nominated Anton Dyakov, blending tragedy, melodrama, and sci-fi elements to portray life in a society consumed by perpetual war. The film turns H.C. Andersen's "The Snow Queen" on its head—an anti-fairytale that offers no comfort or redemption, but peels the story down to darker, more complex layers. Love does not lead to salvation, but to betrayal. Magic is replaced by a technological reality that tears at the human soul.
The film contrasts sterile environments—hospitals, bakeries, Petr's apartment—with chaotic war zones through distinctive visual language. Each frame is treated as a meticulously composed panel in a graphic novel, with precise camera placement and character blocking that convey atmosphere even in stillness. Lyrical scenes use limited animation, giving each gesture significance, while action scenes feature detailed full animation.
The screenplay, originally titled "Чужое сердце" (A Foreign Heart) in Russian, was completed in 2022. With its unflinching depiction of medical exploitation, military violence, and personal disintegration, the film examines the psychological aftermath of societal collapse.
The production brings together international talent: Trollfilm (Norway) and Les Films du Poisson Rouge (France) as co-producers, with animators from Spain, Sweden, and Norway. This collaboration creates a universal story about human value in societies where that value has been forgotten. Through its poetic visual approach, "A Foreign Heart" transforms one man's tragedy into a statement about the dehumanizing effects of war, political corruption, and systemic exploitation.
As in Dyakov's previous works, this is no propaganda film. It is a deeply human story with echoes of Chekhov, Maupassant, and Kafka—about ordinary people trying to survive the unbearable.
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