Teheran 43

Mosfilm and French and Swiss production companies made Teheran 43, a 1981 political thriller co-produced by the Soviet Union, France and Switzerland and directed by Aleksandr Alov and Vladimir Naumov.

The story draws on the alleged Operation Long Jump, Nazi Germany's supposed plot to assassinate Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt during the 1943 Tehran Conference. In the wartime storyline, Soviet agent Andrei works to foil the assassination attempt in Tehran and meets a young woman named Marie. A parallel plotline set decades later in Paris follows surviving Nazi agents Scherner and Max Richard, whose hidden secret documents become the object of a dangerous trade. Andrei, once again drawn into the affair, also seeks out Marie, his lost love, while Scherner hunts down everyone connected to the secret.

The international cast pairs Soviet leads Natalya Belokhvostikova and Igor Kostolevsky with stars such as Alain Delon, Claude Jade and Curd Jürgens. The film topped Soviet box office in 1981 with 47.5 million viewers and won the Golden Prize at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival. Charles Aznavour's theme song also became a major hit.