Elena
Directed By:
Andrei Zvyagintsev
Written By: Oleg
Negin
Starring: Nadezdha
Markina, Andrey Smirnov, Aleksey Rozin, and Yelena Lyadova
Director of Photography: Mikhail Krichman, Editor: Anna
Mass, Art Direction: Andrey Ponckratov, Original Music: Philip Glass
The two
worlds that Elena, the elderly and titular protagonist of this austere and
intelligent Russian drama, inhabits couldn’t be starker. On one side is the
sterile, almost silent world that her and her husband dwell. The only noises are
the sounds of coffee grinding or doors sliding open, as well for the constant
cawing of black crows (a foreboding sign of things to come). Everything feels
sterile and in complete order, designed for minimal chaos to produce maximal
efficiency. And then there is the home of Elena’s son Sergey, which is
littered, constantly bombarded by video games and television noises, and
cramped. This is how the other half lives, and it is not to be trusted.
In what
would seem rare today in Hollywood filmmaking, Elena is a rare film that is not only surprisingly conservative in
its politics but highly thrilling. Liberal films—or at least films that tout
liberal ideas—are a dime a dozen, most of them barely interested in political
ideas. But director Andrei Zvyaginstev and screenwriter Oleg Negin have deliberately
taken on class in what spins into a Hitchcock-like thriller, and brings such an
apt and nuanced hand to its political statement, cleverly disguised as a
morality tale. It’s the type of great filmmaking that could easily convince you
of its talking points.
