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The Return

Vozvrashcheniye

Russia

2003

105 Min
Color
1.85:1
Russian
Subtitled in English
Audio in Russian
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
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DIR Andrei Zvyagintsev

EXEC Andrew Colton, Yelena Kovalyova

PROD Dmitri Lesnevsky

SCR Vladimir Moiseyenko, Aleksandr Novototsky

DP Mikhail Krichman

CAST Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalia Vdovina, Vladimir Garin

ED Vladimir Mogilevsky

PROD DES Zhanna Pakhomova

MUSIC Andrei Dergachyov

Venice (Competition): Golden Lion, Luigi De Laurentiis Award, SIGNIS Award, Sergio Trasatti Award, Locarno (Competition), Toronto, Sundance (World Cinema), Rotterdam

Synopsis

A mixture of psychological thriller and road movie, The Return tells the story of two young brothers, Andrei (Vladimir Garin) and Ivan (Ivan Dobronravov), who must cope with the sudden and unexplained return of their long absent father. Unusually close and notably protective of each other’s interests, Andrei and Ivan embark on a destination-free road trip with the cryptic father after years of gazing at his image on a torn photograph. But as hopes for a caring parent metamorphose into fear of abuse, a family getaway becomes the background for self-discovery and the destruction of deeply rooted emotional investments. As it turns out, the missing spots in the two boys pasts run deep, the distance between imagined fatherhood and the man in its symbolic center is breathtaking, and Andrei and Ivan’s need for a newly articulated relationship with parental guidance is a source of impenetrable pain.

Stuck on an allegorical desert island, Ivan and Andrei re-visit the trauma of abandonment and are forced to stare at their internalized myths of fatherhood, history and affection. More than a symbolic landscape of bareness, director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s meticulously photographed island with its panoramic blending of land, sea and sky works as a fertile background for the film’s last quarter.

At the same time simple and multi-layered, The Return’s narrative is a crisscross between detailed psychological exploration and bold statements about the processes in which kinship and mankind are forged.

Director

Original

Andrei Zvyagintsev

Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev (Russian: Андре́й Петро́вич Звя́гинцев) (born February 6, 1964) is a Russian film director and actor. He is mostly known for his 2003 film The Return, which won him a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Zvyagintsev was born in Novosibirsk, Siberia. At the age of 20 in 1984 he graduated from the drama school in Novosibirsk as an actor. Since 1986 he has lived in Moscow where he continued his studies at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts until 1990. From 1992 to 2000 he worked as an actor for film and theater. In 2000 he began to work for the TV station REN TV and directed three episodes of the television series The Black Room.

In 2003, he directed his first feature film The Return, which received several awards, including a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His second feature film The Banishment premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Palme d’Or. n 2008, he directed a short segment for the film New York… read more

Wall

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Picture of Joe

Joe

2Feb12

The father's character seems incomplete to me. The two kids are great actors, but I almost think the father could have been replaced by a machine of some sort. Nice scenery though, yada yada yada. Pretty hard to mess up shots of the russian countryside.

Picture of Madagascar

Madagascar

30Jan12

Such spectacular cinematography. I was awestruck by the beauty of the boat drifting off the island, spreading lazy waves in the dusk. Also, Ivan reminded me of the kid in Truffaut's "The 400 Blows".

Picture of megancatherine

megancatherine

2Oct11

The things that make this film great are subtle, nonetheless in quality. The imagery, the mood, the way in which the film is choreographed from start to finish was neither shocking nor predictable - simply well done. Ivan's performance was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

Safa Topal likes this

Товарищ Петя.

28Aug11

Extremely exquisite photography - but why on gods green earth is the trailed dubbe din English? Seriously? MUBI! Majorly disappointing.

megancatherine likes this

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Articles

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W184

Introducing The Auteurs Daily

By David Hudson on July 30, 2009

So. Where were we? Right, I was saying that I'd "been dreaming up a new format and, if all goes according to plan, it'll be rolling out slowly

read article

Catching the big one with Dad: A Russian director's debut

By J. Hoberman on January 23, 2008
Winner of the same Venice Film Festival that gave a decidedly mixed reception to The Dreamers, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s The Return is also suggestive of a lost era—the highly crafted allegorical Eastern European
read article

FILM REVIEW; A Frayed Family, an Ominous Fishing Trip

By Dave Kehr on January 23, 2008
The winner of the grand prize at the Venice Film Festival in September, ‘’The Return’’ is the stunning feature film debut of Andrey Zvyagintsev, a 39-year-old Russian director who here renews the grand
read article

Return of the Prodigal Father; Andrey Zvyagintsev Talks About "The Return"

By Erica Abeel on January 23, 2008
“The Return,” a first feature from Siberian-born Andrey Zvyagintsev, has sparked excitement along the festival circuit and copped a slew of awards. An allegorical thriller with echoes of Andrei Tarkovsky
read article

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Reviews

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The Return

By Jon on January 16, 2010

A masterwork in allegory and symbolism, “The Return” is a boundlessly layered Jungian landmine of religious metaphor and political subtext, ominous mysticism elegantly sewn to a timeless tale simmering…  read review

Untitled

By Colin Ludvic Racicot on June 28, 2008

The last time I saw that film was maybe 3 years ago. Even after those years, I strongly keep the memory of that film. The Return is intense on every level… The photography and the directing is insane…  read review

Untitled

By Sherly on April 17, 2008

The use of visuals certainly is in the tradition of Tarkovsky, but Zvyaginstev has a very strong voice of his own.

The film is strong, powerful, visceral and ever so affecting. The story is…  read review

Untitled

By Selim on February 24, 2008

One of my recent favorites!! This one’s about two brothers reuniting with their dad after 12 years. As much as it may seem like an ordinary, the movie reveals itself very unexpectedly. The love and…  read review

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