Andrey Zvyagintsev delves into the lives of a relationship built on hate for one another and the affect it has on an innocent life.
Loveless is a film that explores the consequences surrounding a relationship that bares no love at all and effects several parties in different ways. Andrey Zvyagintsev is no stranger to depicting Mother Russia as a bleak world where a shining light is hard to come by, as seen in his previous films Elena from 2011 and the critically acclaimed Leviathan from 2014. With Elena being a previous favourite of mine, they way it depicts a Mother willing to go to extreme lengths for her family, I watched Loveless turn into something quite the opposite, a family with such disdain for one another they forget about the most important person, their young son who is yearning for some genuine affection that lifts his mundane existence. Nominated for best foreign language film at that year’s Academy Awards, this film hits you in the feels, you start to hate the parents as much as they hate each other, proving that Andrey Zvyagintsev is a master craftsman.
There are a few themes that jump out in Loveless, ideas of guilt being an obvious source of character development, although there is also this theme of trauma that jumped out when watching this film that transpires through several of the characters. In contrast to Elena, this film shows a distorted family reality that spreads quickly and devastatingly, almost into a plague of paranoia and regret, destroying lives on its path. A devastating story that is depicting a problem that happens all the time in Russia, the unexplained disappearances of children and the volunteer group that accepts the daunting task of deciphering the problems surrounding this and the innocent victim caught up in a web of lies and neglect that is usually involved in these cases, something the film is glaringly pointing to.
The story revolves around two people who are in a marriage filled with hate for one another and the past they shared together. There is the Mother, Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) who shows disdain to both Husband and Son, happily parading round with her new partner, full of eagerness to start her new life away from everyone else. There is Boris, the husband who is played by Aleksey Rozin (of Leviathan and Elena fame), a businessman and another very unlikable character that already has one foot out of the door by shacking up part time with his new pregnant girlfriend. Amid this poisonous relationship is an innocent bystander, their son Alyosha (Matvei Novikov) who is to be tossed aside by his vicious parents due to him being a reminder of a past they once shared and hated equally.
Aloysha overhears his parents arguing about what they are going to do with him, the mostly likely destination is an orphanage far away, so far that the sheer memory of him will never cross their minds again. Distraught about what he hears, Aloysha decides to do them a favour and run away, leaving his parents to stew in their atrocities and make them suffer with their inevitable guilt.
Days have passed since Alyosha has disappeared, the parents who are now in the first stage of guilt employ the help of the police and a local volunteer group who specialize in finding lost children. The parents are forced to put their differences aside and unite in helping find their son, although not entirely truthful with the authorities about their treatment of their lost child. The journey takes them out of town and a visit to Zhenya’s mother, who lives in the dilapidated family home, away from civilisation and has resentment towards her daughter and the husband that ‘saved’ her from this torturous upbringing. We start to see where Zhenya acquired her bitterness from and how Boris, even though she despised him also offered her an escape from her family.
The search for Alyosha continues and the parents now stare into the possibility that they may never see their son again, following paths leading to dead ends lets realisation to sink in, is this their fault or is the search party just not as good as they thought they were? Although never confirmed, a traumatic final scene involving both parents allows them to answer this question about themselves, will the pain and guilt consume them forever or are they rid of a burden that once tied them together, letting them now separate entirely.
Loveless really does take you on a dark journey of an evil that is not usually seen on the big screen. This film really is an impressive story that is rare in that you do not root for the main characters at all, even as the film comes to a finish and we are presented with the outcome. Loveless is slow yet beautifully shot throughout and the bland, vast Russian landscape becomes a primary character as well. This is in my eyes Zvyagintsev’s best work to date, proving that an already masterful artist is now beginning to create flawless cinema at a rapid pace.
Available to rent from Amazon Prime and BFI player now.
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