Summaries

Synopsis

The film is set in the fictional land of the Berendeyans, ruled by Tsar Berendey. Snegurochka (the Snow Maiden) is the beautiful 16-year-old daughter of Ded Moroz (Grandfather Winter, a personification of winter) and Spring-Beauty (a personification of spring). Her overprotective father has raised her in isolation in a forest dwelling, afraid that the Sun god's warmth will melt her away.

Snegurochka has only known the company of animals, but she is fascinated with the songs of the handsome shepherd Lel and longs for human company. At the end of winter, she gets permission by her parents to live with humans. As Ded Moroz departs the land to live in the tundra, he instructs the forest goblins to guard Snegurochka against dangerous suitors. Snegurochka approaches the elderly drunkard Bobyl and his wife, asking them to be her surrogate parents. She starts living with them in a human village.

During the spring, Lel briefly flirts with Snegurochka, but abruptly ends a romantic meeting with her. He is a fickle young man with many female admirers. Snegurochka is kind, but inexperienced with human emotions and supposedly incapable of feeling love. The handsome merchant Mizgir arrives in the village in search of a suitable wife. He chooses Kupava as his new fiancee, but is shortly after smitten with Snegurochka. He offers his love to a surprised Snegurochka, while a rejected Kupava is advised to seek help from the Tsar.

Tsar Berendey is worried about the climate of his kingdom, which has been getting progressively colder for 15 years. He thinks that the sun god (which he worships) is angry with the cold hearts of his people. He meets with Kupava, and sympathizes with her unrequited love for her unfaithful fiance. He decides to call a general meeting of the boyars and his other subjects, in order to decide a punishment for Mizgir.

In the meeting, the Tsar decides to exile an unrepentant Mizgir. But the Tsar is impressed with Snegurochka's beauty and kindness, and offers to marry her to a man of her choice. Snegurochka tries to explain that she has never loved a man. The Tsar offers a reward to any man who can successfully woo her. Lel and Mizgir are the only volunteers who want to compete for the girl's heart. The Tsar decides that they will have the opportunity to compete in a festival organized for this occasion on the country's sacred forest.

In the festival, Lel entertains the crowds with his singing abilities. The Tsar allows him to choose a mate according to his wishes. An excited Snegurochka offers herself to Lel (who she admires). He surprises everyone by choosing the melancholic Kupava as his new mate. An emotionally distressed Snegurochka runs away.

Mizgir follows Snegurochka into the forest, though she pays no attention to his anguished declarations of love. The forest goblins intervene, using illusions with Snegurochka's form to lure Mizgir deep into the forest and away from the real Snegurochka. Under the moonlight, Snegurochka summons her mother to seek help. She asks the Spring goddess to grant her the ability to feel love, even if the feeling can kill her. Her mother reluctantly grants her this ability, though she tells her to beware of the sunlight.

Snegurochka meet Mizgir by accident, and genuinely falls for him. The new couple announce their relationship to the Tsar and the gathered people. Snegurochka is aware that this love will kill her, but sings with joy as she melts away. While everyone feels sadness for her demise, Mizgir is the only one who feels despair. He commits suicide by jumping off a cliff.

The Tsar believes that the death of Snegurochka caused the end of the winter-like weather in his kingdom. He instructs Lel to sing a religious hymn to the sun god. As sunlight allows the palace and other buildings to shine, the Berendeyans sing about the glory of their sun god. The film ends.