Leviathan [Левиафан] Russia, 2014 Color

questioning at its heart. Zviagintsev’s visually bleak and Leviathan contemplative films have inspired critics to see him [Левиафан] as a successor to Andrei Tarkovskii. Indeed, like his renowned compatriot, Zviagintsev is chiefly Russia, 2014 concerned with form and cinematic language; he Color, 142 minutes. endeavors above all to tell a story in ways that are In Russian with English subtitles unique to the medium of cinema. Like his previous Director: Andrei Zviagintsev films, notably his debut film The Return (2003) and Screenplay: Oleg Negin and Andrei Zviagintsev Leviathan’s immediate feature-length predecessor Camera: Mikhail Krichman Elena (2012), Leviathan concerns an intimate circle Production Design: Andrei Ponkratov of people and their interpersonal tensions—in this Music: Andrei Dergachev, Philip Glass case, Kolia’s family and a handful of their friends. Cast: Aleksei Serebriakov, Elena Liadova, Leviathan also shares with Zviagintsev’s earlier Roman Madianov, Vladimir Vdovichenkov films overt Biblical references that serve to Producers: Ekaterina Marakulina, Sergei complicate (rather than alleviate) the characters’ Melkumov, Alexander Rodnianskii, process of recovering from tragedies that befall Marianna Sardarova them. Ultimately, Zviagintsev’s objective in tying Production: Non-Stop Productions, with Biblical references to the narrative of Leviathan additional support from the Federal Film Fund remains obscure, so that they raise more questions Awards: Guild of Film Scholars and Critics than they satisfy. White Elephant for Best Film, Best Director, Among the sources Zviagintsev has cited as Best Cinematography, Best Actor, and Best inspiration in making Leviathan, two stand out in Actress; Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign particular. First is Heinrich von Kleist’s novella Language Film; the Dublin Film Critics Circle Michael Kohlhaas, which pits mazelike Award; and prizes at the London and Munich bureaucratic oppression against an individual Film Festivals without the skills to navigate the system. Second is the Biblical Book of Job, a story that mirrors, in Toward the end of Andrei Zviagintsev’s many ways, Kolia’s trials in Leviathan. While Leviathan, Liliia (Elena Liadova) showers and Zviagintsev reportedly did not have Thomas dresses herself for work in the dark before emerging Hobbes’ political treatise of the same name in mind, to a blustery, cloud-obscured sunrise on the banks the connection between the two has not gone of the Barents Sea where she, her husband, and unmentioned by critics. The Book of Job also teenage stepson live. Instead of following her usual makes reference to the sea monster Leviathan, path to the bus stop, she takes a detour to the edge which is evoked beyond the film’s title as a of a cliff and gazes down at the violent waves cavernous whale skeleton resting on the beach near breaking against the ragged walls of the precipice. Kolia’s house. The whale’s history remains untold, Just meters away from the shore, a whale emerges and it has simply merged with the setting. It is, like from the choppy waves and silently vanishes again the living whale Liliia spots from the cliff’s edge, a before her eyes. While this scene follows Liliia and palpable reminder of the human individual’s failure not the film’s protagonist, her husband Kolia to access the natural and spiritual worlds. (Aleksei Serebriakov), the image of the lone figure, Critics and journalists have inferred from framed against nature and its chance encounters Zviagintsev’s religious framing devices that he evokes Leviathan’s brooding tone and the spiritual intends simultaneously to explore human spirituality and critique the Russian Orthodox become a signature for Zviagintsev through his Church. Zviagintsev neither explicitly confirms nor frequent collaboration with director of photography denies these interpretations, though he does Mikhail Krichman. outrightly disparage the Church’s influence on the Rather than establish familiar shot— state and people in positions of power. Leviathan’s counter shot relations between characters, critique of the Church is not subtle; a respected Krichman and Zviagintsev prefer to allow scenes to Bishop quietly encourages the mayor, Vadim unfold with minimal intervention from editing. The (Roman Madianov), in his efforts to bully Kolia out camera watches pensively without interacting, so of his property. But Zviagintsev is not interested in that the film’s aesthetic is at once understated and painting a black-and-white portrait of oppressor and sensational; Leviathan is meticulously paced with oppressed. Vadim is a relentlessly despicable long takes, slow tracking shots, and breathtaking character, but he is also shown to be vulnerable and long shots of the surrounding landscape, elevating insecure in his desperation to keep his title. He the sense of isolation in the desolate north. A live plots to murder Kolia’s lawyer Dima (Vladimir whale sighting is a rare and fleeting occurrence, and Vdovichenkov), by whom he feels threatened, but it offers a glimpse of a world that humans in releases him at the crucial moment. Even as Vadim Leviathan can only hope to brush up against when fully embodies the role of a foul, corrupt politician, its carcass washes up on the shore. The whale’s the film does not let the audience dismiss him ghost therefore hangs over the film; the skeleton on entirely as a human being. the beach and Liliia’s brief encounter offer the By the same token, Kolia is never constant reminder that ordinary humans fall represented as unquestionably virtuous, or even as eternally short of reaching the realms of nature and necessarily goodhearted. He loves Liliia, but most spiritual understanding. The entire film is imbued of his daily efforts go into fighting to keep his with the promise of imminent snow, unraveling property and he therefore overlooks her long- slowly on the verge of chilling melancholy that will suffering silence. Due mostly to bureaucratic and offer no relief when it finally freezes over. other factors outside of his control, but also in part to his short temper, Kolia slowly loses everything Sonia Lupher that matters to him over the course of the film. In a near-catalytic confrontation with Father Vasilii, the Andrei Zviagintsev was born in Novosibirsk in local priest, Kolia somewhat scornfully demands to 1964. He spent the beginning of his career in front know whether he could have avoided ruination by of the camera, acting in theatrical productions, attending church and giving confession. Father films, and TV series. His first directorial project Vasilii responds by relating the Book of Job, was a set of three episodes for REN-TV. In 2003, evidently urging Kolia to make peace with his he gained international attention for his feature- misfortunes and to let God back into his life. length debut The Return, which won the Golden Though he is indisputably a victim, Zviagintsev Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated refuses to paint Kolia’s character as a pure for numerous other awards. Since then, his films innocent, brutalized and exploited unfairly by a have circulated at film festivals to high critical corrupt system; in short, the film remains subtle in acclaim. its political critique by refusing to over-humanize him. Filmography: Zviagintsev adamantly refuses, therefore, to 2017 Loveless (pre-production) prompt his audience to see his characters in any 2014 Leviathan particular way. He urges his actors to take on their 2011 Mystery (short) roles without conferring judgment on the characters 2011 Elena they play despite any flaws or questionable actions. 2009 Apocrypha (short) Onscreen, they are presented as confined to lives 2007 The Banishment that are at once quotidian and dramatic. He is 2003 The Return committed to the everyday lives of his complex characters, but in such a way that the “slow burn” of Leviathan gradually culminates in a reality for which a happy outcome is unattainable. This sense is fueled by the film’s somberness, which has .

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