Loveless: The BRWC Review

19th November 2017

By Marti Dols Roca.

Surely Andrey Zvyagintsev is not a name that would appear in a conversation about the top directors nowadays; however one would seriously wonder why on earth not after coming across any of his movies. Especially considering he has won the Jury Prize at Cannes twice (Leviathan, 2014; and Loveless, 2017), the Grand Jury Prize at Venice (The Return, 2003) as well as having a movie nominated for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards (The Return, 2003). Not to mention his latest film Loveless has already been selected as the representative for Russia at the Oscar’s once again.

As mentioned, Loveless has not only won the Jury Prize at Cannes, but also BFI London Film Festival 2017 under the Best Film category. Its UK and Ireland release will be on February 9^th 2018 and it can’t feel more adequate as it’s a bloody cold and tough story (in the best of senses).

Loveless portrays the lives of a young couple, Zhenya and Boris, who are trying to make their separation as smooth as possible considering they hate each other’s guts. Boris tries for his ultra catholic boss not to find out about his divorce before he formalises his upcoming new marriage and fatherhood; Zhenya, on the other side, doesn’t look up from her cell phone except when she is with her new and charming companion, as if she didn’t want to see what’s around. This would be a relatively easy though exasperating period if it didn’t have a third party involved: their 12 years old son Alyosha.

It looks like the kid will be staying with Zhenya who as she says to her current boyfriend: I didn’t know what love was until I met you. She never knew such a thing with her mother and was unable to experience it after giving birth to a not really expected baby, which led to a marriage and soon to be miserable life. After the umpteenth argument with Boris, Zhenya speaks her mind about Alyosha’s near future: “he loves summer camp, he will like boarding school; and after that the army”. Adults can say certain things in certain situations that may not be completely true or they may not really believe. However, if you son has been in the toilet all along and has heard what you are going to do with him he may take a childish but understandable decision: run away. If this happens during the cold Russian winter with the only help of a group of volunteers to look for him given the uber bureaucratic and not that reliable police system, drama is served indeed.

Loveless is a brutally honest film in both visual and conceptual senses. Especially by treating upfront the most common of realities: young parents that realised too late that wasn’t the live they wanted and now there’s a third party involved who’s rarely guilty and often a victim.

A movie that, amongst other things, comes to say: love your kids or just don’t have them (which when it comes to statements, it’s hard to find a more reasonable one). The soviet architecture, hostile weather and brusqueness of its dwellers serve as the perfect wrapper for this crude story.

So, it’s a kick in the guts but a very good one. As it was The Return; as it was Leviathan. Do check Andrey Zvyagintsev’s work. You won’t regret it. Don’t do it one of these days you’re feeling blue though. You then may regret it.

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