Plot of Eastern Promises

Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a midwife at a London hospital, finds a Russian-language diary on the body of Tatiana, a fourteen-year-old girl who dies in childbirth. She also finds a card for the Trans-Siberian restaurant, which is owned by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a boss in the Russian Mafia or vory v zakone (”thieves in law”). Anna sets out to track down the girl’s family so that she can find a home for the dead mother’s baby girl. Anna’s mother Helen (Sinéad Cusack) does not discourage her, but Anna’s Kiev-born uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski), whom Anna asks for help with translation of the diary, urges caution. Through Semyon and her uncle, Anna comes to learn that Semyon and his bumbling and unstable son, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), had abused Tatiana and forced her into prostitution, and that Semyon had raped the girl.

Details of Eastern Promises

Directed by David Cronenberg
Produced by Paul Webster & Robert Lantos
Written by Steven Knight
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts & Vincent Cassel

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