They say a female version of "The Count of Monte Cristo" has been filmed in Russia. What kind of series is it?

"Kholod" (Cold), a new series from Russian streaming platforms, is a story about spoiled rich kids, family, and the fight for justice, starring a young beautiful actress in the lead role.

The creators call "Kholod" their own version of "The Count of Monte Cristo." Let's recall that plot: Dumas' hero, an unjustly imprisoned sailor, escapes from prison after 14 years behind bars and gains strength to exact revenge.

"The Count of Monte Cristo" has dozens of adaptations. Sometimes screenwriters allowed themselves to treat the plot arbitrarily — moving it to the distant future and countries from South Korea to the USSR. But everywhere, Dumas' main plot scheme was preserved: a great injustice (most often due to a false accusation), going into hiding through imprisonment or exile, and then returning to seek revenge.

Such a path also fell to Zhenya Plotnikova, the heroine played by Lyubov Aksyonova. She returns from a family celebration with her husband and young daughter and gets into a conflict with a group of "majors" (spoiled rich kids) on the road. Afterwards, Zhenya wakes up in a hospital ward and learns that her husband and daughter died in an accident orchestrated by those same "majors."

Of course, such an accident needs to be investigated. And Zhenya is offered a choice: either she signs a paper stating that some third car was to blame for the tragedy, or, as a murky lawyer threatens her, things will get worse. The trouble is, at that family celebration, the girl drank a sip of something alcoholic — which means she herself could easily be blamed for the misfortune.

Ultimately, handcuffs click on the girl's hands, and she is taken to one of the Russian penal colonies. At first, the young widow doesn't want to live and does everything to reunite as soon as possible with her relatives who left her in that accident. But then Zhenya decides to take revenge.

Павялічыць

The future Count from Dumas' novel, however, would have achieved nothing without one character. He is helped by Abbé Faria, a Catholic priest who teaches the unfortunate man sciences and shares information about where to find treasures useful for carrying out his revenge.

In "Kholod," the treasures have been modernized, as has the abbot himself; instead of him, there's a cunning economist named Yana. Zhenya meets her in solitary confinement. Yana teaches her new friend how to survive in the zone and orchestrate financial schemes, and at the same time tells her about secret accounts outside and how to access them. These assets will help Zhenya embark on her revenge.

"Kholod" was filmed simultaneously by three Russian streaming platforms — "Ivi," START, and Wink. It's clear how much money has been invested in the project: diverse locations from wealthy Moscow to a snowy colony, top actors like Lyubov Aksyonova, Larisa Guzeeva, and Pyotr Fyodorov, elaborate interiors, and a large number of extras.

The streaming platforms are betting big on "Kholod," and it's paying off. Only 2 out of 10 episodes of the project have been released, but "Kholod" is already widely discussed on social networks, and the streaming platforms boast about its successes — the first episode garnered three million views, and on Russian "Kinopoisk," the project has a rating of 7.9 out of 10. Judging by search engine data, "Kholod" is actively watched in Belarus as well.

The project strongly resembles another prison-themed hit of recent years, "Outsource." This was a story about a Russian strict-regime colony in the 90s, where death penalties were still carried out. The local team of wardens decides to transfer the right to execute them to relatives whose loved ones were killed by those criminals — thus organizing a kind of outsourcing.

Both "Outsource" and "Kholod" satisfy the viewer's desire to at least on screen see one person defeat the system. Few in present-day Russia or Belarus would go into open defiance, but even in the most closed system like prison, there are vulnerabilities. Kostya from "Outsource" and Zhenya from "Kholod" weaponize them and give the viewer a chance to see that small victorious rebellion, without which it's no longer possible. Aggression, driven deep by the inability to express it, comes out, and it becomes a little easier; the viewer gets their small catharsis.

Павялічыць

"Kholod," like "Outsource," is the complete opposite of Western series about heroic police officers who protect the people. Such series were once filmed in Russia too — recall "Streets of Broken Lights" — but now the viewer no longer believes that the system is capable of upholding justice. That's why they are drawn to series where a person from the common folk fights for justice and wins, unlike the state, which will always abandon you.

People even slightly familiar with real women's penal colonies in post-Soviet countries will surely find many deviations from reality towards prison clichés in "Kholod." But, it seems, the tale of Monte Cristo has always been just a fairy tale, and it should not be treated otherwise.

It is unlikely that strong projects telling the truth about prison could emerge in today's Russia. But prison is a convenient stage to tell about the relationship between a person and the system in the most intense format.

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