Vozvrashcheniye
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| Vozvrashcheniye | |
|---|---|
 Vozvrashcheniye film poster |
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| Directed by | Andrey Zvyagintsev |
| Produced by | Yelena Kovalyova Dmitri Lesnevsky |
| Written by | Vladimir Moiseyenko Aleksandr Novototsky |
| Starring | Vladimir Garin Ivan Dobronravov Konstantin Lavronenko Natalia Vdovina |
| Music by | Andrei Dergatchev |
| Distributed by | Kino International (US) |
| Release date(s) | 25 June 2003 |
| Running time | 105 min |
| Language | Russian |
| IMDb profile | |
Vozvrashcheniye (Russian: Возвращение), also known as The Return, is a 2003 Russian film. The movie was released internationally in 2004.
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[edit] Story overview
Two teenage Russian boys have their father return home suddenly after being absent for 12 years. The father takes the boys on a holiday to a remote island on a lake that turns into a test of manhood of almost mythic proportions.
[edit] Plot
In contemporary Russia, young brothers Ivan and Andrey have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. Both mother and grandmother live with them. Running home after a fight with each other, the boys are shocked to discover their father has returned after a twelve year absence. With their mother's uneasy blessing, Ivan and Andrey set out on what they believe will be a fishing vacation with their taciturn father.
Though at first ecstatic to be reunited with the father they've only known from a faded photograph, the boys strain under the weight of their dad's awkward and increasingly brutal efforts to make up for a missing decade of parental supervision. Ivan and Andrey find themselves alternately tested, scolded, scrutinized and ignored by their father through a changing series of encounters and hardships.
As truck stops and cafés give way to rain-swept, primevally beautiful wilderness coastline, Ivan's doubts about his father give way to open defiance. Andrey's powerful need to bond with a father he's never known begins, in turn, to distance him from Ivan.
Ivan and his father's test of wills escalate into bitter hostility and sudden violence as the trio arrives at their mysterious island destination.
The dubious sanctuary of a rickety light tower, the desperate reassurance of a stolen knife, the cryptic allure of a rusting strong box and the fleeting safety of a hastily patched boat give evidence to the ultimately tragic conclusion of Ivan and Andrey's harrowing father and son journey and the heartbreakingly transitory nature of their reunion.
[edit] Symbolism
Some parts of the movie are not explained in detail as a way to leave open interpretations.
[edit] Political
- The father returns after 12 years, which is approximately the time interval between the fall of Communism in the former Soviet Union in 1991 and the production of the movie in 2003 (NOTE: This movie was produced in 2002).
- Ivan seems to represent the new Russia, wary and distrusting of the old system.
- Andrei seems to represent those torn between the two.
- The story might be that the father (the old system) has abandoned the sons (the people, the country) and in the end it is the father (the old system) that is buried so the sons (the people) can move on with their lives.
Alternatively,
- If the father is to be seen as representing the government of Russia, then the government is to be seen to be involved in some very dubious activities, which may or may not be criminal (this is one of the ambiguities of the film -- what is in the box on the island).
- The sons must learn to work and fend for themselves to get off the island, and not merely for their own gain.
[edit] Religious
- The storyline is divided into seven chapters, each a different day, which resembles the biblical perspective of how the world is created; the movie's timeline begins on the christian Sabbath until the next six days of building the boys into men.
- The father returns on Sunday, which is the day Jesus returned to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday).
- The father's posture when he laid in bed, recalls Andrea Mantegna's painting "The Lamentation over the Dead Christ."
- An old family photo was found in a book beside an illustration of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.
- The reference of fish, a symbol of Christianity, is palpable in the movie.
- The reference of the Bible symbolising the diary kept by the boys.
- When the father has fallen from the tower, he lies on the ground with his arms spread, resembling a Cross.
- The father dies on Friday, which is the day The Christ died.
- The father's death suggests that the sacrifice is made to deliver his sons to adulthood, which is similar to The Christ's sacrifice to deliver mankind from sins.
[edit] Main cast
- Andrey - Vladimir Garin
- Ivan (Vanya) - Ivan Dobronravov
- Father - Konstantin Lavronenko
- Mother - Natalia Vdovina
[edit] Crew
- Directed by: Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Produced by: Dmitry Lesnevsky (Ren Films)
- Screenplay by: Vladimir Moiseenko and Alexander Novototsky
- Music by: Andrey Dergatchev
[edit] Awards and nominations
The following items are some of the awards that the movie has won in 2003.
[edit] Venice Film Festival
- Winner, Golden Lion
- Winner, Best First Film
[edit] European Film Awards
- Winner, European Discovery of the Year
[edit] Palm Springs International Film Festival
- Winner, Best Foreign Film
[edit] Golden Globe Award
- Nominee, Best Foreign Language Film Russia
[edit] Trivia
- Vladimir Garin drowned shortly after the end of shooting in the same lake where several of the picture's scenes were filmed.
- Andrey Zvyagintsev's father disappeared from his life when he was 6.
- The budget of the film remains a secret, though in an interview the director and the producer hinted that it was well below $500,000. The director also mentioned that the producers made their money back even before it was screened at Venice Film Festival.
- Vozvrashcheniye was filmed on and around Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland.
