Some critics have compared “Elena” to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic novel “Crime and Punishment.” They both take place in Russia; they both involve a crime; they both indicate the effects of that crime on the people who committed them.
But the similarities end there. The title character of Andrei Zvyagintsev’s suspenseful film doesn’t break the law for an idea. Her motives are completely selfish — and also utterly altruistic. It’s those conflicting feelings behind her uncharacteristic action that make her story so dreadfully haunting.
Elena (Nadezhda Markina) and Vladimir (Andrey Smirnov) seem a happy-enough married couple in Moscow. The only tension comes from their children; they each have a child from a previous marriage. As we meet those children, we better understand their parents’ relationship. Elena was once Vladimir’s nurse. And she still serves him, for all intents and purposes.
| On screen |
| ‘Elena’ |
| 3 out of 4 stars |
| Stars: Nadezhda Markina, Andrey Smirnov, Aleksey Rozin |
| Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev |
| Rated: Not rated |
| Running time: 109 minutes |
He’s not an ungrateful patriarch, but they’re not equals. And though Elena never shows a trace of resentment, Philip Glass’s creepy soundtrack indicates it’s in there somewhere.
Vladimir is well off, so Elena gives her pension to her wayward son, Sergey (Aleksey Rozin). We first see him leaning on a balcony, smoking. The look on his face is not of content, but more a sort of clueless yearning. Vladimir’s right — he’s a good for nothing. But it’s the future of her family that Elena is more concerned about. Her grandson Sasha will be drafted into the army if Vladimir doesn’t pay the bribes necessary to get the underachiever into school.
But Elena soon has bigger problems, with her own easy existence at stake. Vladimir falls ill. It leads to a reconciliation with his own unsavory daughter, and he decides to leave her his fortune.
“Elena” has a very deliberate pacing. Some might complain it’s too slow. But it perfectly serves the tension of this modern noir, which won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes last year. It’s modern not just because its protagonist is a criminal and a woman. Few noirs examine the question of class, which, along with the oft-explored relationships between men and women, is the reason “Elena” is more than just a simple thriller.
