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The Banishment

 

 

Written and Directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev

Russia 2007 / Drama / Rural / Family / 157 min / Color / Dolby  5.1 / 1.85:1 Widescreen Anamorphic / PAL / In Russian with Optional English Subtitles



Konstantin Lavronenko, Maria Bonnevie, Alexander Baluev, Maxim Shibaev, Katya Kulkina .

On the heels of his award-winning 2003 feature debut The Return, filmmaker Andrei Zvyagintsev struggles to avoid the sophomore slump with this art-house crime drama concerning two brothers struggling to keep their lives together in the face of certain disaster. Soon after extracting a bullet from his brother's arm, Alex (Konstantin Lavroneko) relocates his family from the city to his father's old house in the countryside. As the family settles into their rustic existence, Alex's wife Vera (Maria Bonnevie) reveals that she is pregnant by another man. Enraged by his wife's announcement, Alex consults with his brother and demands that Vera terminate the pregnancy. When the forced abortion goes horribly awry and Alex's brother suffers a severe heart attack, a confrontation with the man Alex believes to have seduced his wife send events quickly spiraling out of control.

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