7.3
Zhenya and Boris are going through a vicious divorce marked by resentment, frustration and recriminations. Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page – even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until, after witnessing one of their fights, Alyosha disappears.
Maryana Spivak
Zhenya
Aleksey Rozin
Boris
Matvey Novikov
Alyosha
Alexey Fateev
Coordinator
Marina Vasilyeva
Masha
Andris Keišs
Anton
Nataliya Potapova
Zhenya's Mother
Sergey Borisov
Police Officer
Anna Gulyarenko
Masha's Mother
Artyom Zhigulin
Kuznetsov
Maxim Solopov
Kuznetsov's Father
Sergey Badichkin
Colleague
Tatyana Ryabokon
Realtor
Maksim Stoyanov
Buyer
Lyubov Sokolinskaya
Female Buyer
Varvara Shmykova
Lena
Natali Starynkevich
Cosmetologist
Yevgeniya Dmitriyeva
Stylist
Irina Krivonos
Nurse
Oleg Grisevich
Volunteer
Polina Aug
Sofya Sinitsyna
Girl in the Restaurant
Sergey Dvoynikov
Ivan
Dmitry Faynshteyn
Volunteer
Artem Manukyan
Natalia Vinokurova
Manager
Nikolay Starodubtsev
Volunteer
Sergey Karyakin
Search and Rescue Squad
Konstantin Telegin
Search and Rescue Squad
Asya Domskaya
Restaurant Girl
Anna Soloveychik
Restaurant Girl
Yanina Hope
Restaurant Girl
Anastasiya Stezhko
Restaurant Girl
Eugenia Khrapovitskaya
Restaurant Girl
Tatyana Khramova
Sofia
Vladimir Vdovichenkov
Asking Man (voice)
Sergey Kaplunov
Alyanura Tretyakova
Mariya Korovina
Evgeniya Shipova
Tatyana Moshkova
Viktor Ryabov
Gennady Greznev
Office Worker (uncredited)
Lucien Lyubimova
Search and Rescue Squad
Daria Pisareva
Marina Donets
Oleg Nevezhin
Director, Writer
Andrey Zvyagintsev
Writer
Oleg Negin
May 15, 2024
7
"Zhenya" (Maryana Spivak) and husband "Boris" (Aleksey Rozin) are in the final throes off their divorce proceedings and boy, can't that come soon enough. Their relationship has become the epitome of toxicity and is seriously stressing out their son "Alyosha" (Matvey Novikov). Not only must he share their small flat with them, but he must also listen to their increasingly caustic conversations that frequently concern him and his custody. I'm not sure his self-obsessed parents realise that he can hear every word and indeed it's probably forty-eight hours before either of them realise that they haven't seen him for a while. They try his friends - of whom he has few, his school and trawl the neighbourhood. All to no avail so the police are called in and the search becomes more urgent. Has he just fled to get some loving affection and attention from his warring parents or is something more sinister afoot? What is curious to start with here is that this couple could ever have loved each other in the first place. He's about as selfish as it's possible to be and she, well she's a pretty ghastly piece of work - a chip off the old block when we meet her equally odious mother (Natalya Potapova). The film doesn't conclude in any traditional sense but the photography in an abandoned building towards the end (part one) offers us quite an allegorical look at that which was once functional and even good is now rotting away through neglect and indifference. The part two of the end takes us forwards a few years and without providing us with answers, does make some suggestions that seem to fit complementarily with the whole bleakness of this analysis of human nature at it's most introspectively angry and egotistical. The acting from the two principles is taut and plausible and the effective depiction of negative energy is potent throughout - even when they need to work together. Aptly titled, then again maybe not entirely?