Elena
Directed by: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Russia | 109 minutes | Unrated
Screening | Friday, June 15, 2012, 7pm - 9pm |
Screening | Saturday, June 16, 2012, 7pm - 9pm |
Elena is a gripping, modern twist on the classic noir thriller. Sixty-ish spouses Vladimir and Elena uneasily share his palatial Moscow apartment - he's a still-virile, wealthy businessman; she's his dowdy former nurse who has clearly 'married up'. Estranged from his own wild-child daughter, Vladimir openly despises his wife's freeloading son and family. But when a sudden illness and an unexpected reunion threaten the dutiful housewife's potential inheritance, she must hatch a desperate plan.
Masterfully crafted by award-winning Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev and featuring evocative, Hitchcockian music by Philip Glass, Elena is a subtly stylish exploration of crime, punishment and human nature.
"Elena has the taut dramatic structure of a Dostoyevsky parable, matched with mesmerizing long-take technique, a hushed, disquieting soundscape, and images that jangle in your head for days."
- Tim Robey, Telegraph
Winner, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, 2011
