This is a story about love—the kind we chase, the kind we settle for, and the kind that sneaks up on us when we’re not paying attention. It’s about permanence, or the lack of it, and the terrifying realisation that maybe nothing in life—no feeling, no relationship—ever truly stays the same. Alisa Melikova’s debut film Illusions (2025) is a rich tapestry of emotions, following two couples whose lives have been entwined for 50 years. It poses the question: Is love real, or just a story we tell ourselves? And in the end, does it even matter?
Ivan Vyrypaev
Writer
Alisa Melikova
Director
Pavel Shatu
Albert
Irina Abraham
Margaret
Alexander Notkin
Denny
Andrei Kouznetsov
Denny
Inna Yesilevskaya
Margaret
Olya Mikhaylova
Sandra
Svetlana Kifa
Sandra
Arnold Shvetsov
Albert
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X64%
Dead Again64%
The Hot Spot63%
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Gabriel's Rapture: Part III78%
Shuffle64%
Paradise60%
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