Best Performance by an Actress
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Elena2011
Winner of Cannes' Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize, ELENA is a gripping, modern twist on the classic noir thriller. Sixty-ish spouses Vladimir and Elena uneasily share his palatial Moscow apartment (he's a still-virile, wealthy businessman; she's his dowdy former nurse who has clearly "married up.") Estranged from his own wild-child daughter, Vladimir openly despises his wife's freeloading son and family. But when a sudden illness and an unexpected reunion threaten the dutiful housewife's potential inheritance, she must hatch a desperate plan... Masterfully crafted by award-winning Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev and featuring evocative, Hitchcockian music by Philip Glass, ELENA is a subtly stylish exploration of crime, punishment and human nature.
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4 members like this review
This is a beautiful film where every picture tells a story. Elena a stout large woman is Mother Russia trying to take from the rich and give to the poor trying to enable equality. Could have very well been a classic tale by one of the classical Russian writers, Artfully and beautifully executed cinematography sinks you deep into the haunting drama. Beautiful Philip Glass soundtrack is a perfect marriage.
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Starring
- Evgeniya Konushkina - Tatyana
- Yelena Lyadova - Katerina
- Nadezhda Markina - Elena
- Igor Ogurtsov - Aleksandr
- Alexey Rozin - Sergey
- Andrei Smirnov - Vladimir
- Igor Yurtaev
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Member Reviews (8)
top reviewer
This is a beautiful film where every picture tells a story. Elena a stout large woman is Mother Russia trying to take from the rich and give to the poor trying to enable equality. Could have very well been a classic tale by one of the classical Russian writers, Artfully and beautifully executed cinematography sinks you deep into the haunting drama. Beautiful Philip Glass soundtrack is a perfect marriage.
4 members like this review
top reviewer
Well acted and a mystery to the end. Might be a little too r"realistic" for some.
I do not agree with the accolades. This movie feels flat and lifeless. The characters just lack depth. This is all the more disappointing because the actors are good, but do not have enough to do. The script should have been more nuanced, perhaps. It feels more like a TV episode than a movie. The story is bone-chilling, too bad it was not told better.
Beautifully shot, keeps you in each moment, Tarkovsky pacing. Nadezhda Markina is perfect.
Pretty sickening. Morally and socially degrading. Is it trying to be representative of any society? The triumph of evil?
Fabulous and well-acted. Just goes to show you that Russia has now caught up with the rest of the world in terms of family codependency, greed and misery. Good character development for all participants. I really found myself feeling for Elena and her plight. Whatever she did, she was trapped.
A slow moving character study with a depiction of post socialist Russian society. Highly recommended.
Good enough to watch.