DAU

Plot

Inspired by the physicists who built the Soviet atomic bomb, the film DAU follows a brilliant Greek-born physicist from 1928 through four tumultuous decades in the USSR. Driven to uncover the laws of the universe, the idealistic Dau is drawn into state service to help create one of history’s deadliest weapons. Inside a secret research institute, life is governed by scientific ambition, power, surveillance and privilege. As his autonomy erodes, Dau seeks freedom beyond his marriage through a succession of affairs, gradually losing both himself and his capacity to love. At once an intimate portrait of a man in pursuit of happiness and freedom and a vast fresco of a society founded on violence and ideology, DAU traces the small compromises that shape a life and alter the course of history.

About DAU

DAU is a 2026 drama film directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky. Inspired by the lives of Soviet physicists who developed the atomic bomb, the film follows the brilliant scientist Dau across four decades of life in the Soviet Union, from 1928 to 1968. A co-production of Germany, France, Sweden, and Russia, it assembles footage shot between 2008 and 2011, together with additional material filmed in 2024, into a single feature over a production history spanning more than two decades. As the director's statement puts it, "the starting point was my interest in the human being — in our ability to love, to create and to be free, to make moral choices and to experience happiness in a world where a totalitarian system gradually changes human nature itself." The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on 9 September 2026, where Khrzhanovsky won the Silver Lion for Best Director.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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