Director: Dmitriy Suvorov
A young ecology student squares off against a construction tycoon in "Disobedient," a 2023 Russian drama built around a wager neither side expects to lose.
What is Disobedient about?
Elya, twenty and headed toward a career protecting the environment, storms into a university lecture to tear apart Matvey's plan to raze an old forest park for a new development. Rather than brushing her off, the company head is drawn to her refusal to be managed, and when his usual tactic of throwing money at a problem fails, he proposes something riskier: seven days of courtship on his terms. If Elya still wants out afterward, he'll drop the skyscraper project entirely. She agrees, partly because he actually halts construction to prove he's serious, and partly because she's convinced she knows exactly how this kind of story goes. What she has in mind resembles a glossy makeover romance, the sort where the guarded businessman softens under the right woman's influence. Matvey, however, keeps refusing to play the part she's written for him, and the week turns into something stranger and less predictable than either of them bargained for.
Cast & crew
Alexander Petrov, familiar to Russian-language audiences from a run of box-office dramas, plays Matvey with a mix of self-assurance and genuine curiosity that keeps the character from tipping into caricature. Anastasiya Reznik carries Elya's stubborn idealism without making her merely naive, and the supporting cast, including Yan Tsapnik and Vladislav Vetrov, fills out the corporate world Elya is determined not to be absorbed into.
Context & significance
Director Dmitriy Suvorov frames the story as a knowing riff on the wealthy-suitor romance template, most obviously "Pretty Woman," with Elya herself aware of the comparison and using it as a lens to judge Matvey. The forest park at the center of the dispute gives the romance a concrete stake beyond the two leads, tying a personal standoff to a wider question about development and land use that the film never fully resolves in either direction.
Where & how to watch
"Disobedient" streams on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, so viewers can choose either a dubbed track or the original Russian dialogue with Farsi text. A free K-Time account with login is all that's needed to start watching; the platform's interface and recommendations are built around Farsi-speaking audiences.