87
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenPost-Soviet Russia in Andrei Zvyagintsev's somber, gripping film Elena is a moral vacuum where money rules, the haves are contemptuous of the have-nots, and class resentment simmers. The movie, which shuttles between the center of Moscow and its outskirts, is grim enough to suggest that even if you were rich, you wouldn't want to live there.
- 100SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirA breakthrough movie after its own fashion, a mysterious existential thriller that's brilliantly acted and masterfully directed, without a second of wasted screen time.
- The script, by Oleg Negin and Zvyagintsev, uses spare dialogue to quietly devastating effect. Performances are superb across the board, framed in elegant widescreen compositions that simmer with violence.
- 91The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasIt's an austere Russian drama with shades of Hitchcock.
- 88Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenElena is a film deeply concerned with class resentment, but the filmmakers' attitude toward their titular character is disconcerting and even shocking.
- 88New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoNadezhda Markina is splendid as Elena, who speaks little but still manages to make her thoughts and emotions crystal clear.
- 88Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrElena reveals a filmmaker in full command of his art and not much interested in catering to an audience. If you want this film, you have to meet it more than halfway.
- 85NPRElla TaylorNPRElla TaylorBeneath the noirish topicality of Elena, which won a special jury prize at Cannes last year, lies a bone-deep existential unease and spiritual alienation, a preoccupation with sin that is at once quintessentially Russian and wholly archaic.
- 80Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfRarely do movies-never mind foreign ones, of any nationality - explore an honest-to-God ethical quandary. Elena, in its concentrated austerity, often resembles a lost chapter of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Ten Commandments–themed Decalogue.
- 70Village VoiceNick PinkertonVillage VoiceNick PinkertonAll of this builds into the film's last image, Elena's family finally welcomed into Vladimir's apartment, as the cautious, controlling, abstemious bourgeoisie are overtaken by the heedlessly fertile lower orders, the temporary inheritors of a terribly weary earth.