# Esenin (2005)

> A MUR investigator receives an old photograph showing the poet Sergei Yesenin, cut out of the loop, and must pursue the case strictly by the rules.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/72791

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 11
- Episode runtime: 53 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, mystery
- Created by: Igor Zaytsev, Vladimir Valutsky
- Network: Channel One
- Cast: Sergey Bezrukov, Aleksandr Mikhaylov, Oleg Tabakov, Pavel Derevyanko, Gosha Kutsenko, Sean Young, Konstantin Khabensky, Kseniya Rappoport
- TMDB rating: 6.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456776/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: melancholic, tense, paranoid, measured, sombre

## Synopsis

Yesenin (2005) is a Russian historical crime drama series created by Igor Zaytsev and Vladimir Valutsky for Channel One. Built as a single eleven-episode season, it follows Colonel Alexander Khlystov (Aleksandr Mikhaylov), an investigator in the MUR, who receives an old photograph in the mail showing the poet Sergei Yesenin (Sergey Bezrukov), who has just been taken out of the loop. Bound by the rules, Khlystov must give the case a proper legal course, even as his superiors and the political order around him press against his methods. Each episode peels back another layer of the poet's circle, drawing in figures from the literary and revolutionary world such as Gosha Kutsenko's Yakov Blyumkin and Konstantin Khabensky's Leon Trotsky. The atmosphere is measured and melancholic, with a tense, paranoid undercurrent and the weight of a repressive state. Viewers who enjoy slow burn historical mysteries, Soviet-era intrigue, and procedural investigations in the vein of Chernobyl and The Name of the Rose will find resonance here.

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