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I don't expect many will have had a chance to see this yet (U.S. theatrical release isn't until next May) but put it on your calendars. Zvyagintsev's first film (the pretty great The Return) garnered a lot of comparisons to Tarkovsky, but here he is perhaps more in Chabrol mode. The titular character leads a largely quiet life as the aging matron of a small family that is nonetheless strained by class divisions that echo the world's current economic divides, and that come to a boiling point over the course of the film. Elena feels very true to life, at times uneventful, but at others, offering opportunities for the story to develop in a dramatic way. Some of these story threads never really materialize into anything, but this just makes the ones that do more relatable to real life, and therefore more unsettling. Philip Glass's lovely score also pops in from time to time, often in unexpected moments, granting a sense of tragic grandeur to the proceedings. See it!

I saw it in a festival. I liked it very much but its not as good as The Return or The Banishment IMO...

I really liked the rhythm and the thematic though. And yes, the score is great.

I agree with Caesar. This was overshadowed by a number of better films I saw this year but it's nevertheless definitely worth checking out. Zvyagintsev certainly has a good eye.

I saw this at the NZFF back in August. I thought it was kind of interesting, especially if you look at it as a neo-noir with a babuschka as the femme fatale. The themes of corruption and apathy passed down through generations were pretty blatantly telegraphed (culminating in the obnoxious scene where

Spoiler

the camera rests on the son's prone body for about 30 seconds before revealing that he is alive

) until the very last 5 or so minutes which achieved everything I think Zvyagintsev was trying to do with a minimum of fuss and hoopla. I don't think Zvyagintsev's skills as a storyteller are fully developed yet and you can detect a struggle between his wanting to branch out and his comfort zone of less narratively detailed studies in mood.

Does anyone know if a DVD of this is being planned by New Wave or Zeitgeist..? There's a Russian (English-subbed) 2DVD edition available, but I'd hate to go through the trouble of getting that just to see it come out on a normally-priced R1 or R2 disc. Then again - if that goes out of print and no other release appears, it's happy hunting...

To answer my own question: R1 coming from Zeitgeist next month, featuring a director interview and a "making of", not of the film, but - the film poster Bet no one was expecting THAT.

puxzkkx wrote:(culminating in the obnoxious scene where

Spoiler

the camera rests on the son's prone body for about 30 seconds before revealing that he is alive

)

Which precise shot is this? I only ask because the only shot I can think of that vaguely fits that description is

Spoiler

the overhead shot of the baby on the bed, right at the end - but since his chest is visibly rising and falling throughout, accentuated by the fact that he's lying on his side for most of it, I don't understand this notion that we're supposed to be under the impression that he might be dead.

Of course, if you mean an entirely different shot, my apologies - I have a screener, so can easily look it up.

MichaelB wrote:Which precise shot is this?

Spoiler

The climax of the long handheld shot when the teenage son goes off to fight with the other gang and gets beaten up. We see him still on the ground for quite a while before he starts moving.

OK, I see what you mean - but I can't fathom why you think it's "obnoxious".

Largely because it seems to me that Zvyagintsev is deliberately making things ambiguous for a few seconds because

Spoiler

the fight confirms beyond any doubt that Sasha is a thoroughly vicious little shit, and the army really is probably the best place for him. Had he actually been killed, Elena's decision to murder Vladimir and destroy all written evidence of his will so that, in effect, a big chunk of Katya's inheritance gets transferred to Sasha, would become even more pointless - and in opening up that possibility for a few seconds, I assumed that Zvyagintsev was encouraging us to think about this.

MichaelB wrote: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:31 pm

Spoiler

the overhead shot of the baby on the bed, right at the end - but since his chest is visibly rising and falling throughout, accentuated by the fact that he's lying on his side for most of it, I don't understand this notion that we're supposed to be under the impression that he might be dead.

This was really ominous shot on it’s own right.

Spoiler

Baby laying on the bed of the murdered man on his right side just like the deceased used to sleep and then a cut to outside of the house on an empty tree branch while the ”crows” have moved inside.