DAU

Story

Synopsis

Inspired by the physicists who built the Soviet atomic bomb, the film DAU follows a brilliant Greek-born physicist from 1928 through four tumultuous decades in the USSR. Driven to uncover the laws of the universe, the idealistic Dau is drawn into state service to help create one of history’s deadliest weapons. Inside a secret research institute, life is governed by scientific ambition, power, surveillance and privilege. As his autonomy erodes, Dau seeks freedom beyond his marriage through a succession of affairs, gradually losing both himself and his capacity to love. At once an intimate portrait of a man in pursuit of happiness and freedom and a vast fresco of a society founded on violence and ideology, DAU traces the small compromises that shape a life and alter the course of history.

Director

Ilya Khrzhanovsky

Writers

Susanne Marian, Ilya Permyakov, Ilya Khrzhanovsky

Language

Russian

Country

Germany, France, Russia, Sweden

Release date

9 September 2026

Ensemble

Cast

• 

  Teodor Currentzis

  Dau

• 

  Radmila Shegoleva

  Nora

• 

  Anatoly Vasiliev

  Anatoly Krupitsa

• Vladimir Azhippo

  Azhippo

• 

  Dmitri Tcherniakov

• Dmitry Cheglakov

• Demyan Kudryavstev

• 

  Maria Nafpliotou

• James Fallon