The Queen of Spades - Tchaikovsky
This page avoids major plot turns, twists, and ending details. It’s designed to help first-time viewers decide if this movie is right for them.What counts as a spoiler can vary by viewer.
Enamoured with an unknown lady, a young soldier discovers that her grandmother holds a secret to win at cards. Although his beloved requites his love, happiness slips out of reach when his obsession with the powerful secret drives him to madness. Set in imperial Russia, Tchaikovsky’s late brooding thriller about a fanatic gambler is a tour de force of stirring melancholy, consuming passion and grand sweeping orchestration. If the opera saw the light of day thanks to his brother, the librettist Modest Tchaikovsky, The Queen of Spades soon became Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky’s personal obsession: composed in only 44 days, he considered it a masterpiece.
