The Return (2003)
"Vozvrashchenie" (original title)

In the remote Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father--a man they only know through a single photograph--resurfaces.

Director:

Andrey Zvyagintsev

Writers:

Vladimir Moiseenko, Aleksandr Novototskiy-Vlasov

Stars:

Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 27 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vladimir Garin	...	Andrey
Ivan Dobronravov	...	Ivan
Konstantin Lavronenko	...	Otets
Nataliya Vdovina	...	Mat
Galina Popova	...	Babushka
Aleksey Suknovalov	...	Zavodila
Lazar Dubovik	...	Khuligan
Elizaveta Aleksandrova	...	Ofitsiantka
Lyubov Kazakova	...	Devushka v zerkalakh
Andrey Sumin	...	Chelovek v portu
Aleksey Proshchikin
Viktor Alenin
Stas Orlov
Arseniy Belousov
Sofya Bagdasarova

Storyline

Two teenage Russian boys have their father return home suddenly after being absent for 12 years. The father takes the boys on a holiday to a remote island on a lake in the north of Russia that turns into a test of manhood of almost mythic proportions.

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Plot Keywords:

boy | russian | island | return | wilderness | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Kino International (English) Lighthouse Pictures [sg]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

25 June 2003 (Russia)

Also Known As:

The Return

Filming Locations:

Ladoga Lake, Russia

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£43,388 (UK) (25 June 2004)

Gross:

£277,457 (UK) (19 January 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ren Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 99 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The budget of the film remains a secret, though in an interview the director and the producer hinted that it was well under $500,000. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev also mentioned that the producers made their money back even before they went with the movie to Venice where it was "discovered".

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Goofs

On the island, Ivan bandages his hand after it gets injured. In the next shot, the bandage is on his other hand.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[on-screen caption: Sunday]
[boy falls in the water, then floats up]
Zavodila: Jump as we agreed! Who climbs down the ladder is a cowardly wanker.
[swims to the shore]
Boy on Tower: Go on, Vityok. You're next.

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Crazy Credits

During the end credits, there are still photos.

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Connections

Featured in The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Requiem in re minore K626"
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

User Reviews

Resonates long afterward

This film's power is revealed in the contrast between the events as they play out and the questions generated by the enigmatic final moments. It worked firstly as a mysterious, psychological drama, but once the film had ended, it fit the definition of the term allegory perfectly.

"The Return" makes a compelling case in favor of a poetically complex narrative over the expectations of 'The Hollywood Ending', where life eventually makes some kind of sense. The absence of a father can create a psychological 'presence' for the family, both seen and felt in the emotional interaction of the children. This complex, yet all too human condition is played out here, not as a narrative sleight of hand (The Sixth Sense) but rather as film poetry. Life's hardest truths sit like a stone in the mouth and won't be broken down easily. The characters in this film seem to be struggling with the absence of their father, but doing so with him present.

Visual cues which seem to lead to a metaphorical reading of what's happening are scattered throughout the film. For example, when the the boys see their sleeping father for the first time, he's viewed as Andrea Mantegna's "Dead Christ". The boys dash upstairs immediately afterwords to see if he looks like their father from an old photo. It seems that it's been loosely placed in an old book of engravings - on the page where the angel stays Abraham's hand before he sacrifices his son. Then there is the repeated image of the tower, seeming to both foreshadow and justify a fear of death for the youngest brother. And the mysterious journey to an island, the significance of which changes them all. These don't appear as kitsch cues (as in, "this image stands for this specific idea.") but appear as symbols whose meaning is more poetic than literal. They're tied to the story and can't be extracted. In true Tarkovskian form the filmmaker has bled his symbols of universal references and made them about the characters.

And there's the profoundly enigmatic manner of the father, existing for the two brothers in terms of curt preoccupation, edicts, veiled threats, detachment and blunt instruction. He could very well not be there. This causes both boys to respond to him with a mix of outrage, incredulity and bitterness.

Its a rare film, well worth seeing, if for no other reason than to marvel at the elegiac force of the story, the photography and at the performances that the director managed to coax from his actors. Both the boys in particular are astonishingly subtle. Highly recommended.