The Red Queen or "Krasnaya koroleva" is a 2015 Russian 12-episode historical drama about the life of Soviet Union real life model Regina Zbarskaya
note . It follows Regina as she departs her rural home town for Moscow in the 1930s, goes to university and eventually becomes a model. As it's set during the height of USSR, expect political intrigue about the KGB and lots of pretty dresses.
There's also another tv show by the same production company about Russian models in the 1960s with the apt name Russian Beauty.
This show provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Regina's father but not her mother. Vladimir's father
- Comingof Age Story: It's ultimately a tragic one for Regina as she transitions into adulthood
- The Commies Made Me Do It: Literal examples abound in a series about the USSR!
- Costume Evolution: Regina goes from a poor, rural girl to a urbane, fashionable model
- Costume-Test Montage: Vera Aralova, the fashion designer who discovers her (via her son), makes Regina try on a variety of clothing at the start of her modelling career.
- Crowd Chant: Every scene with a trial ends up with the rowdy group of Comrades shouting punishment for the accused, even if the action was done in defence
- Destructive Romance: Regina's relationship with her husband, Lev Zbarsky.
- Don't Look Back: Regina's mother tells her to leave their town and go to Moscow at the start of the first episode and this echoed at the end of the episode as her mother is being dragged to a penal camp
- Domestic Abuse: From Regina's father to extras in the background, there is a lot of domestic abuse that is both shown and referred to, specifically towards wives. For Regina's father, this is largely chalked up to be a result of the psychological and physical effects her father is shoe-maker who lost a leg in the war of the first world war.
- False Friend: Regina considers her snobby friend Tata this after she condemns her to be kicked out of the student Komsomol which paints a target on her back and leads to her getting an unsatisfactory designation after finishing university but YMMV on how much this true.
- Svetlana, who mocks Regina in front of Regina's future-husband Lev Zbarsky and a room of people during an art showcase
- Fashion Hurts: On par for a new model who doesn't know how to go down a catwalk.
- Glory Days: Avgusta Leyontyevna's life before the Communist Revolution
- I Will Wait for You: Regina and Vladimir promise this to each other
- Dramatic Sit-Down: Regina is fond of this!
- I Just Want to Be Normal: And how! She starts off simply wanting to go to a college for accounting, get assigned to a post, get married and have many children . . . unfortunately, fate has other plans for her.
- Limited Advancement Opportunities: This is emphasized in the show over and over again: if you do anything to upset the Comrades and committees, you'll be doomed to the undesirable positions. This happens twice for Regina during her education. The first is when her mother is deemed a murderer and this taints Regina's image so much that she does not get a medal for her academic excellency. The second is in Moscow after she's kicked out of the Komsomol, the panel that assigns posts for the university graduates send her far north, away from Moscow despite her excellent standing
