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• Grimms Fairy Tales meet Jean Paul Satre
  “Elena” is Andrey Zoyagintsev’s wonderful, thinly disguised, parable of East meets West. It is set in the grim reality of Russia’s two speed economy and grapples with the moral dilemma’s of law and a just order.
  The confidence of Zoyagintsev- arguably Russia’s best cinematographer- is demonstrated in the opening, seemingly endless, scene where the faint fire alarm resonates later.
  Music and sound effects are unbelievable, Phillip Glass, who would believe at 72, demonstrates the high level of professionalism that has been harnessed for this production. The sound effects throughout are subtle and well weighted.
  The screen writing by Oleg Negin and Andrei Zryagintsev is impeccably confident, direct and nuanced, immeasurably amplified by the paralinguistic features of the acting. Elena Laydova, the eponymous “Elena”, is wonderful as the powerfully understated mother figure. She acts as the emotional anchor around which everyone else is centered.
  The suspense of the film is masterful orchestrating the audiences dread throughout and making Vladmir’s drive to the gym reminiscent of little Red Riding Hood skipping through the wood, significantly only stopping for the workers.
  To talk of the story as like Russian dolls, the angst Chekhovian or the cinematography reminiscent of Andrei Tarkovsky undercuts the originality and honest Russian taste of this film. It is the existential dilemma of the central story that gives this grim dystopian vision its strength.

  Commenter

  Creighton

  Location

  Hunters Hill

  Date and time

  June 25, 2012, 4:07PM

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