The Gadfly (Russian: Овод, romanized: Ovod) is a 1980 Soviet drama film directed by Nikolai Mashchenko based on the novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich.

[2] Student Arthur Burton, the son of a wealthy English shipowner from Livorno, is fascinated by the idea of uniting Italy into one country and liberating it from the Austrian Habsburgs.

Elder brother James and his wife Julia openly dislike Arthur, and the only person close to him is the rector of the seminary, Bishop Montanelli.

During one of his business trips, Ovid, disguised as a traveler, meets in the cathedral with his father Montanelli, who has already become a cardinal and is firmly convinced of Arthur's death.

Right in the cathedral he was arrested by the guards and sent to prison… Friends try to arrange for him to escape from prison, which breaks down due to a sudden exacerbation of chronic Ovod's disease.