French label Pyramide Video will release on Blu-ray Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev's (The Return, The Banishment) Elena (2011), starring Nadezhda Markina, Andrey Smirnov and Aleksey Rozin. The release will be available for purchase on October 2.
Last year, Elena won the 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...
Note: In the U.S., Elena is distributed by Zeitgeist Films, while in Australia it is handled by Palace Films. An English-friendly Blu-ray release of Elena is currently available only in Russia (see our listing here).
