Elena (2011)

When a sudden illness and an unexpected reunion threaten dutiful housewife Elena's potential inheritance, she must hatch a desperate plan ...

Director:

Andrey Zvyagintsev

Writers:

Oleg Negin (screenplay), Andrey Zvyagintsev

Stars:

Nadezhda Markina, Andrey Smirnov, Aleksey Rozin

24 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nadezhda Markina	...	Elena
Andrey Smirnov	...	Vladimir
Elena Lyadova	...	Katerina
Aleksey Rozin	...	Sergey
Evgeniya Konushkina	...	Tatyana
Igor Ogurtsov	...	Sasha
Vasiliy Michkov	...	Lawyer (as Vasily Michkov)
Aleksey Maslodudov	...	Vitek
Ekaterina Tarkovskaya
Ivan Mulin
Nikita Slepchenkov
Yuriy Borisov
Igor Yurtaev
Yaroslav Zhalnin
Vasily Prokopyev

Storyline

Elena and Vladimir are an older couple, they come from different backgrounds. Vladimir is a wealthy and cold man, Elena comes from a modest milieu and is a docile wife. They have met late in life and each one has children from previous marriages. Elena's son is unemployed, unable to support his own family and he is constantly asking Elena for money. Vladimir's daughter is a careless young woman who has a distant relationship with her father. A heart attack puts Vladimir in hospital, where he realizes that his remaining time is limited. A brief but somehow tender reunion with his daughter leads him to make an important decision: she will be the only heiress of his wealth. Back home he announces it to Elena. Her hopes to financially help her son suddenly vanish. The shy and submissive housewife then comes up with a plan to give her son and grandchildren a real chance in life.

---

Plot Keywords:

submission | submissive | unhappy | marriage | happiness | 

---

Taglines:

Thy Will Be Done.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene with Elena coming to church was not in the original script. Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin argued whether it was necessary.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Elena: Get up...

---

Connections

Features Davay pozhenimsya! (2008)

---

Soundtracks

Kyrie Eleison: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232-Kyrie
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach (as J.S. Bach)
Performed by Rundfunkchor Leipzig
(P) & © 1992 PHILIPS CLASSIC
(P) OOO UNIVERSAL MUSIC, 2010

User Reviews

One of the finest social-realism dramas of the year. An understated beauty of Russian cinema!

We're soon approaching the end of 2012. What a fabulous year for films, ey? Whilst I'm holding off completing my 'Top Movies of 2012′ until Christmas time, I'm rapidly trying to cram in all of those movies I've been desperate to see this year but, for some silly reason or another, have failed to get around to. Elena is such a film. The third feature from Russian modern master Andrey Zvyagintsev (The Return, The Banishment), it's a frosty, portentous, and oddly beautiful depiction of conflict between contemporary Moscow's bourgeoisie and the humble underclass.

Nadezhda Markina plays the title character Elena, a sixty-something, former state nurse turned docile housewife to the wealthy Russian aristocrat Vladimir (Andrey Smirnov). They met late in life when Elena was once caring for Vladimir in a hospital bed, and started up an unlikely kinship. Whether it was a bond formed out of compromise or compassion is unsure, but now, ten years on, their stale, loveless marriage is nothing more than a formality.

Elena spends her days travelling by tram, train and bus to to visit her unemployed son from a previous marriage, Sergei (Andrei Smirnov). Living in the Projects and overlooking a disused power plant from the old communist days, he depends on his mother to support his family, and gets supplements from her pension money, and sly payments from Vladimir's estate.

Vladimir's relationship with his daughter Katya is initially far more hostile, but just as parasitic. Begrudgingly labelling her as a hedonist, the concerned father has cut off any contact with Katya, happy to transfer monthly payments into her bank account, but not willing to start up a paternal bond. After a heart attack puts Vladimir in hospital, Elena hatches a despicable plan to give her grandson enough money to put him through university; a prevention from the harsh life in the Russian underclass.

With deliberately slow pacing, long takes and a muted, quasi-apocalyptic colour palette, when it featured at Cannes this year, comparisons with prodigious Russian auteur were aplenty. But aside from these niggling aspects, Zvyagintsev is working within his own social-realism vein; taking the conventions of melodrama and reconfiguring them into an abstemious framework. He manages to present a quintessentially Russian cultural divide, but make it universally engaging and cinematic through some incredible performers across the board. Markina is astonishing in the lead. A taciturn character, she uses expression and lost glances to perfectly encapsulate the neglected wife-turned-carer, who is on the brink of depression and mania.

The finest moment of the entire movie doesn't even include our leading lady. Sitting in a private hospital bed, Vladimir's first and only encounter with daughter Katya is unnerving yet deeply poignant. Making up for lost time, they share awkward, short exchanges at first, before the emotions soon come flooding to the surface and the pair are sharing smiles and tears of joy, unbeknownst to them, for the last time.

The glacial cinematography from Mikhail Krichman, along with a pitch-perfect score from New York's Philip Glass, make Elena a film of remarkable, modest beauty. Give it a few years to mature, and we'll soon be heralding it as a modern masterpiece of some new European cinema movement. What movement? That's up for talented director Andrey Zvyagintsev to decide.

Read more reviews at http://www.366movies.com

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

29 September 2011 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Elena

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,035, 20 May 2012

Gross USA:

$233,380

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,227,905

Company Credits

Production Co:

Non-Stop Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1