The Beginning (Russian: Начало, romanized: Nachalo) is a 1970 Soviet romantic drama film[2] directed by Gleb Panfilov and starring Inna Churikova as Pasha,[3] a factory worker and small-time actress whose life is transformed first by falling in love with the married Arkady (Leonid Kuravlyov) and then by being offered the lead in a movie about Joan of Arc.

The first centers on the life of Pasha Stroganova, a modest textile worker from the small town of Rechensk.

Plain in appearance, she spends her days working at the factory, going to dances, and playing Baba Yaga in a local amateur theater group.

Around the same time, a director from the city attends one of her performances and, unexpectedly, offers her a role in a major film playing Joan of Arc.

The film's production is fraught with challenges, as the rest of the crew struggles to understand what the director sees in this unassuming provincial actress.