Mavka, a water nymph, loves Lukash, a country youth. Their brief happiness ends when Lukash is forced to marry the shrewish Kilina. The Spirit of the Forest turns Lukash into a wolf as punishment for his infidelity. The strength of Mavka's love breaks the spell, but Kilina curses the nymph, transforming her into a weeping willow. This beautiful and tragic story is based on a play written in 1912 by Lesya Ukrainka, a Ukrainian poet, writer and political, civil and female activist, and includes mythological characters taken from Ukrainian folklore.
Liudmyla Yefymenko
as Mavka
Viktor Kremlev
as Lukash
Maya Bulgakova
as Lukash’s Mother
Ivan Mykolaichuk
as Uncle Leo / Wood Goblin
Boris Khmelnitsky
as Red (forest) Demon
Viktor Demertash
as Koots
Lyudmyla Lobza
as Kylyna
Nina Shatskaya
as Water Sprite
Svetlana Sergeyeva
as Meadow Fairy
Ivan Khodulin
as Kylyna’s child
SGhosh
It seems that I have stumbled on one of Yuri Ilyenko’s masterpieces at last, a beautiful and tragic adaptation of a play (written in 1912) based around folklore. Mavka, a water nymph is enticed by a young man’s flute and falls in love with him, only to be betrayed as the man marries another. The for...