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| Hélène Kuragina | |
|---|---|
| War and Peace character | |
 Anita Ekberg from the trailer for the filmWar and Peace | |
| Created by | Leo Tolstoy |
| Portrayed by | Anita Ekberg Irina Skobtseva Fiona Gaunt Tuppence Middleton Amber Gray Cat Simmons Lilli Cooper Violante Placido Carol Bezerra Hiromu Kiriya |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Yelena Vasilyevna Kuragina |
| Alias | the Queen of society |
| Nickname | Hélène |
| Gender | Female |
| Title | Princess (by birth) Countess (by marriage) |
| Family | Vasily Kuragin (father) Anatole Kuragin (brother) Hippolyte Kuragin (eldest brother) |
| Spouse | Pierre Bezukhov |
| Relatives | Catiche Bezukhova (cousin), Pierre Bezukhov (cousin) |
| Religion | Russian Orthodox (by birth) Roman Catholic (by convert) |
| Nationality | Russian |
PrincessYelena "Hélène"Vasilyevna Kuragina (Russian:Елена "Эле́н" Васи́льевна Кура́гина) is a fictional character inLeo Tolstoy's 1869 novelWar and Peace and its various cinematic adaptations. She is played byAnita Ekberg[1] in the1956 film, byAmber Gray in the New York stage premiere ofNatasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, and byTuppence Middleton in the2016 BBC miniseries.[2]
Hélène is described as being in her early to mid-twenties and is considered a great beauty. WithinPetersburg society, she is considered very cultured and intelligent on account of her social graces, despite actually being quite vapid. Early in the novel, it is rumoured and later implied that Hélène has anincestuous relationship with her profligate brother,Anatole.[3]
AfterPierre Bezukhov is legitimised as the heir to his father's title and fortune, Hélène's father, Prince Vasily Kuragin, arranges for the two of them to be married. Despite finding Pierre odd, Hélène goes through with the marriage[4] for the sake of social and financial advantage. Pierre is at first thrilled to be married to such a beautiful woman, but he quickly sours on the match, especially after Hélène tells him she will never have children with him. Not long after they are married and living in Moscow, Hélène has an affair with their houseguest, the crude but fearless soldier Dolokhov, who flaunts the romance. Pierre fights Dolokhov in aduel, and by a stroke of luck wins by wounding him. Pierre sinks intodepression, losing all love for his wife. He leaves her and goes to St. Petersburg. Hélène begs him to maintain the marriage, which he does only for the sake of appearances, while she continues to engage in sexual affairs, most notably with Boris Drubetskoy. Continuing to pursue her social ambitions, she frequently hosts dinner parties for the elite, and hersalon becomes extremely popular. Later, she conspires with Anatole to help him in his pursuit ofNatasha Rostova, to whom Anatole is powerfully attracted.
Late in the novel, Hélène forsakes the Russian Orthodox Church and adoptsCatholicism, believing that a large donation to the church will lead the Pope to annul her union with Pierre so she can remarry. Soon afterward, Hélène becomes pregnant and then dies; it is implied that she died from adrug overdose in an attemptedabortion.
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