Featured Audience Ratings

• c0up  

  
  'Elena'. A beautifully reserved piece of filmmaking exploring the class divide in modern Moscow. The direction is meticulous, patient and purposeful, capturing little moments and stunning imagery. A most memorable, simple score does wonders too.

• William D

  
  "Elena," third feature film from Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev, is a genuine work of art, but it's not a particularly good one. Zvyagintsev thinks deeply about the human condition and brings a real artistic eye to this story of post-Soviet class formation. But… More
  "Elena," third feature film from Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev, is a genuine work of art, but it's not a particularly good one. Zvyagintsev thinks deeply about the human condition and brings a real artistic eye to this story of post-Soviet class formation. But his minimalist style is underwhelming here. I didn't end up caring about the characters very much. And I think this was because of Zvyagintsev's cold style of direction and minimalist approach to story development. He strips things to the bone, which heightens the moral issues at play. But it also denudes the film. It strips the human dimension away. The eponymous main character is a nurse from a lower-class background who ends up marrying a wealthy patient for whom she is caring. Trouble ensues when her feckless grandson needs financial help to get into college and avoid service in the Army. Elena wants her husband to bribe the college admissions counselors. Her rich husband wants to teach the boy a lesson by not rescuing him. Conflict arises. Big time. I won't tell you how things turn out, but I will say that something gruesome happens. I love this basic story. I just wish Zvyagintsev was talented enough to bring it alive in a brutally compelling way. But he is not. The film is ultimately quite flat. The minimalism feels more flaccid and diffuse than incisive and penetrating. A disappointment. But it's a real pleasure to see a filmmaker with a global following bringing a serious story like this to the screen. Even when his films don't fully succeed, Zvyagintsev is a far more valuable filmmaker than someone like Tim Burton.

• Carlos M

  
  An intriguing drama of fascinating moral complexity and ambiguity. Through an elegant direction that uses many long shots, it efficiently presents the everyday life of the main character and the drastic choices she decides to make in view of some difficult circumstances.

• Walter M

  
  Vladimir(Andrei Smirnov) has been married to Elena(Nadezhda Markina), a former nurse, for the past couple of years. Since he is wealthy, she need not ask for anything material, giving her pension to her unemployed son Sergei(Alexey Rozin), so he can support his family which now… More
  Vladimir(Andrei Smirnov) has been married to Elena(Nadezhda Markina), a former nurse, for the past couple of years. Since he is wealthy, she need not ask for anything material, giving her pension to her unemployed son Sergei(Alexey Rozin), so he can support his family which now includes a newborn child. Actually, there is one thing she can ask him and that is to pay for her grandson Sasha(Igor Ogurtsov) to go to university, so that he does not get drafted and a one way ticket to Ossetia. When Vladimir hesitates, she challenges him by bringing up his wayward daughter Katerina(Yelana Lyadova). Regardless, he says he will think about it. On the surface, "Elena" has a story that is not dissimilar from any number of movies I could name. What makes the difference here is the skillful filmmaking with its shifting viewpoints in exploring the class differences in modern day Russia and the resultant moral decay. And one could say Elena's slide begins with the small step of lighting a candle for Vladimir in a church whose beliefs she does not share. On the other hand, maybe she does the wrong things for the right reasons except we are never quite clear which brings up some very interesting questions. Is Sergei actively looking for work or is he just lazy? Would Sasha ending up in the army be the worst thing for him? There is one conversation that sheds light on this between Vladimir and Katerina(who I like for this, no matter what else she may have done in her life) where she makes a great case for not having children since she would just screw them up, not make her a better person which many people would have you think. And a lot of that goes to my belief of how selfish being a parent can be which gets nicely reinforced here.

• Daniel P

  
  Masterfully controlled and filmed, this oddly beautiful and complex moral/amoral piece has stark and autumnal contrasting photography and simple shots that go on for just a bit longer than usual (much in the style of Michael Haneke). A fantastic music score from Phillip Glass too.… More
  Masterfully controlled and filmed, this oddly beautiful and complex moral/amoral piece has stark and autumnal contrasting photography and simple shots that go on for just a bit longer than usual (much in the style of Michael Haneke). A fantastic music score from Phillip Glass too. Exceptional cinema.

• Daisy M

  
  Russian director and screenwriter Andrei Zvyagintsev film, Elena, was the story about Elena, a former nurse who married a wealthy man Vladimir, but their marriage became cold due to money problems .Elena's unemployed son Sergey from her previous marriage needed financial support… More
  Russian director and screenwriter Andrei Zvyagintsev film, Elena, was the story about Elena, a former nurse who married a wealthy man Vladimir, but their marriage became cold due to money problems .Elena's unemployed son Sergey from her previous marriage needed financial support and Elena asked Vladimir to help him. He was not willing to help and after he got a heart attack he made his daughter Katya his only heiress what complicated the situation for Elena.This slow-paced and character-driven drama about a woman who wants to help her son,brought out the struggle for love and how this caused distance between people. With marvelous camera movements, dark backgrounds and intimate portrayals of Russian family relations, Andrei Zvyagintsev created a great realism film with exceptional scenes.

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