Independent British distributors New Wave Films have revealed that they are planning to bring to Blu-ray Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev's (The Return, The Banishment) Elena (2011), starring Nadezhda Markina, Andrey Smirnov and Aleksey Rozin. The preliminary release date set by the distributors is February 11th.
Last year, Elena won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.
Middle-aged couple Elena (Nadezhda Markina) and Vladimir (Andrey Smirnov), come from different walks of society. He is a well-off businessman; she is a former medical worker, now a housewife. Having met late in life, each has children from previous marriages. Elena's son is unemployed and constantly asking for money. Vladimir's daughter is a careless young woman whose contact with her father is irregular and strained. Their worlds rupture when a heart attack puts Vladimir in hospital and he makes a significant decision: his daughter will be the only heiress of his wealth. The shy and submissive Elena's hopes of helping her son and grandchildren secure a better life are crushed, triggering a desperate plan...
@MikaLove There does need to be more well made gay films. It would give me some great present idea's for my sister and/or her partner who have to settle for plenty of poor-mediocre films about homosexuals. More specifically, there needs to be more well made lesbian related films. Gay men seem to get better movies.
deepbreathsanddeath: I was aiming more at the fact that the inhumane republic of Russia (along with other eastern European countries) have zero tolerance for any other sexuality than heterosexuality.
In that sense, I feel it very awkward to praise any movie they make, from that place. They are VERY narrow-minded, rigid and old fashioned.
In general, sex and sexuality is not a topic that is seen with a pleasant eye over there. Meaning, there are way too many "taboos" that they just don't have the guts to talk about.
I do think we, in Europe and the rest of the world, should put more pressure on them to sort their stuff out.
I once used to dream about Russia as a great place to be, but I have woken up many times since then.
But off the topic, yes, male gay movies are in favor of lesbian ones. But then again, we are not perfect either. There are many movies to be made about sexualities other than heterosexuality, to balance the "truths" among us western people as well. As it is now, we are definitely going backwards in our development and our tolerance for sex in general and outspoken sexual behavior in particular. People are sooo afraid of so many things. And in that sense, even if I haven't seen this movie (nor do I plan to), I can feel it deals with very shallow phenomena about relationships and everything around that.
Personally, I think society has no business how a family lives and what they do together, or apart. Unless it's violent abuse or something over the top extreme like that.
We focus too much on the little things that are not important. The above movie could as well be a comedy or a farse for all I care. It's easier to watch such movies and such treatment is often more effective.
Having just watched an Ingemar Bergman movie that was just... dull (Sommaren med Monika). I'm off to grade that movie now. :P
@MikaLove The idea that you are prejudice towards 150 million people and their films, because of where they happen to live speaks volumes. If you're hoping for tolerance, next time consider how narrow minded you are being when you dismiss an entire populace with 1000 years of culture. Also...."I haven't seen this movie (nor do I plan to), I can feel it deals with very shallow phenomena about relationships and everything around that." makes you sound very ignorant. Let's raise the bar a little, ok?
