The Optimists

"The Optimists" is a Russian period drama set during the early Cold War, following a circle of Soviet officials and their wives as diplomacy curdles behind closed doors. Elizaveta Boyarskaya leads the ensemble, playing a woman whose composure gives way in two scenes the archive has clipped for viewing. Both capture her nude on screen, the exposure standing out against the buttoned-up setting around her. Viewers can jump straight to those two scenes without sitting through the rest of the series.