Hélène Kuragina
Princess Yelena "Hélène" Vasilyevna Kuragina (Russian: Елена "Эле́н" Васи́льевна Кура́гина) is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace and its various cinematic adaptations. The surname is modelled on the Kurakin princely family; "kuraga" is the Russian word for dried apricots. She is described as being in her early to mid-twenties. She is played by Anita Ekberg in the 1956 film, and by Tuppence Middleton in the 2016 BBC miniseries.
Biography
Hélène is Pierre Bezukhov's socially ambitious and sexually alluring wife. Before her marriage to Pierre, which she undertakes purely for social and financial advantage, it is rumoured and later implied that Hélène has had an incestuous affair with her profligate brother, Anatole. Pierre's attachment to her is primarily sexual, but he quickly becomes unhappy in their marriage, especially after Hélène tells him she will never have children with him.
Hélène has an affair with the crude but fearless soldier Dolokhov, who flaunts the romance. Pierre fights Dolokhov in a duel, and in a stroke of luck wins by wounding him. Pierre sinks into depression, losing all love for his wife. Hélène begs him to maintain the marriage, which he does only for appearances, while she continues to engage in sexual affairs, most notably with Boris Drubetskoy. Hélène, who is considered very cultured and intelligent despite actually being quite vapid, quickly becomes a prominent and respected member of Petersburg society. She frequently hosts dinner parties for the elite, and her salon becomes extremely popular. Later, she conspires with Anatole to help him seduce Natasha Rostova, to whom Anatole is powerfully attracted.
Late in the novel, Hélène forsakes the Russian Orthodox Church and adopts Catholicism, believing a large donation to the church will lead the pope to annul her union with Pierre so she can remarry. Soon afterward, Hélène falls ill due to a pregnancy and dies; it is implied that she died from a drug overdose in an attempted abortion.
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