Utomlyonnye solntsem, literally "wearied by the sun") is a 1994 Russian drama film starring, directed, written, and produced by Nikita Mikhalkov and co-written by Azerbaijani screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov.

The film depicts the story of a senior Red Army officer, played by Mikhalkov, and his family during the Great Purge of the late 1930s in the Stalinist Soviet Union.

After witnessing Mitya contemplate suicide, the film cuts to Komdiv Sergei Petrovich Kotov, his wife Maroussia, and their young six-year-old daughter Nadia relaxing in a banya when a peasant from the local collective farm frantically tells them the Red Army's tanks are about to crush the wheat harvest as part of general maneuvers.

Kotov carries authority as a senior Old Bolshevik and legendary hero of the 1917 Russian Civil War, and he is also very popular with the common people and local villagers.

It is slowly revealed throughout the duration of the afternoon that he works for the Soviet political police, the NKVD, and has arrived to arrest Kotov for a non-existent conspiracy that Mitya had framed him for.

Although eventually realizing that Mitya intends to take him away, Kotov believes that his close relationship with Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin will save him.

While riding away in the car with his captors, Kotov reminds them who he is and his status, but he quickly realizes that they don't care and that it was Stalin himself who ordered his arrest.

Although arrested with her mother and taken to a concentration camp, Nadia lives to see all three sentences overturned during the Khrushchev thaw, in 1956, and works as a music teacher in Kazakhstan.

Originally the Polish tango, "To ostatnia niedziela" ("This is the last Sunday"), it became popular in the Soviet Union with new Russian lyrics and the title, "Утомлённое солнце" (Utomlyonnoye solntse, "Wearied Sun").

He enjoys the warmth of his family and his status as a war hero but he eventually realizes that he too has been blinded by to his peril and cannot avoid death; Mitya is the burning sun that strikes Kotov.

Although it won the Cannes Grand Prix, Mikhalkov was said to be bitterly disappointed with not securing the Palme d'Or, with Russian press declaring "defeat".

[10] Marc Savlov of Austin Chronicle wrote "A brilliant, Chekhovian meditation on trust, love, and the intrusive horrors that period of time brought to otherwise normal families".

[20] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote "What Burnt by the Sun does best is elegantly intertwine the personal and political themes of love, trust and betrayal".

[21] David Denby, writing for New York magazine, said that while he initially found the film had "too much sunshine", concluded "Burnt by the Sun is an extremely powerful work".

[22] Desson Howe of The Washington Post called the film "old-fashioned, auteurist filmmaking" with "mostly pluses", adding "The Mikhalkovs work together like Astaire and Rogers".

[23] Entertainment Weekly's Owen Glieberman gave the film a B+, writing "Burnt by the Sun builds slowly, reaching a climax of quiet devastation", and said the rowboat scene is "so tender I don't think I'll ever forget it".

Roger Ebert criticized the award as the result of "the Academy's flawed rules", alleging "A publicist merely has to be sure to invite everyone friendly to the film, while leaving it up to others to find their own way".

[36][37] The cast included the Irish actor Ciarán Hinds as General Kotov, Rory Kinnear as Mitya, and Michelle Dockery as Maroussia.