Synopsis
Elena is a woman of a certain age, living in a chic Moscow apartment with her wealthy businessman husband Vladimir. While Vladimir is estranged from his daughter, he does not mask his contempt for Elena's own child, who seems to be in constant need of financial assistance. When Vladimir suddenly falls ill and his volatile, nihilistic daughter comes back into the picture, Elena must hatch a plan for her own survival.
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Cast
- Nadezhda MarkinaElena
- Aleksey RozinSergey
- Andrey SmirnovVladimir
- Elena LyadovaKaterina
- Yaroslav Zhalnin
- Aleksey MaslodudovVitek
- Yuriy BorisovFriend Sanka
- Ivan Mulin
- Oksana SemenovaOperations Officer
- Igor OgurtsovAleksandr
Recommendations
- 100
The New York Times
Post-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. - 100
Salon
A breakthrough movie after its own fashion, a mysterious existential thriller that's brilliantly acted and masterfully directed, without a second of wasted screen time. - 100
Los Angeles Times
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. - 91
The A.V. Club
It's an austere Russian drama with shades of Hitchcock. - 88
Slant Magazine
Elena is a film deeply concerned with class resentment, but the filmmakers' attitude toward their titular character is disconcerting and even shocking. - 88
New York Post
Nadezhda Markina is splendid as Elena, who speaks little but still manages to make her thoughts and emotions crystal clear. - 88
Boston Globe
Elena 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. - 85
NPR
Beneath 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.
