The Banishment

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, 2007, 150 min
Section: Open Eyes

Synopsis

Alex takes his wife Vera and their two small children out of town to spend a few days in the house where he grew up, located in an isolated spot in rolling countryside. During their stay, Vera announces to Alex that she is pregnant and that the child isn’t his. Alex, incensed, insists she has an abortion. He sends the children to stay with friends for a few days and, with the help of his brother Mark, makes the arrangements for the operation to go ahead. The whole episode is not without its consequences, however, which force Alex to reflect on the legitimacy of his actions. A much anticipated film by Andrey Zvyagintsev, who won the Venice festival in 2003 with his debut The Return. Inspired by the short novel by William Saroyan (The Laughing Matter, 1953) the film depicts a family in crisis. The director takes us to an indeterminate time and place (the film was actually shot in Moldavia, Belgium and France), and the two main characters are played by Konstantin Lavronenko and star of Scandinavian film Maria Bonnevie.

About the director

Andrey Zvyagintsev (b. 1964, Novosibirsk) studied acting at the Novosibirsk Drama School (1984) and then at GITIS in Moscow (1990). He acted in several theatre productions and also appeared in commercials. He was cast in episodic roles for various TV series (Getting Acquainted / Budyem znakomy, 1999) and also in films such as Shirli-Myrli (1995, dir. Vladimir Menshov, screened in Karlovy Vary in 1996). He began working as a director with the TV crime series Black Room (Chornaya komnata, 2000), filming three episodes. In 2003 he debuted with the feature film The Return, which was a hit at several festivals. The strongly spiritual dimension of his narration also characterises his next film The Banishment, for which he again teamed up with cinematographer Mikhail Krichman.