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The Return (2003)
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Director Andrey Zvyagintsev's debut feature is an enigmatic rite-of-passage drama, in which brothers Vladimir Garin and Ivan Dobronravov are taken on a fishing trip when their missing father (Konstantin Lavronenko) returns to his home in northern Russia after many unexplained years away. Lavronenko tries, gruffly and largely unsuccessfully, to re-establish a relationship with his sons, but their tense journey to a remote island has an ulterior motive, and attempted bonding quickly turns to paranoia and violence. Atmospheric, meditative and drained of warmth by cinematographer Mikhail Kritchman's blue palette, this chilly film refuses to colour in the blanks where backstory might be and, in so doing, Zvyagintsev creates a stunningly beautiful puzzle that brilliantly captures the boys' confusion. Fêted at the festivals of Europe, The Return is cloaked in real-life tragedy — 16-year-old lead actor Garin drowned in the very lake that features in the film, shortly after its completion. AC
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Running time
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105min
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Country of origin
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Rus
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Genre
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Drama
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Alternate title
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Vosvrashchenie,
Vozvrashcheniye
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Original language
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Russian
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Screenplay
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Alexander Novototsky, Vladimir Moiseenko
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Theatrical distributor
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UGC Films
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UK cinema certificate
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12A
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UK cinema release date
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June 2004
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Subtitling information
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In Russian with subtitles
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| awards information |
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Award |
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Nominee/Winner |
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| Golden Globe 2003 |
Best Foreign Language Film |
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Nominee |
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Film certification logos reproduced by kind permission of BBFC |
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