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How Russian film Loveless unravels the truths of broken marriages

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Bijaya Jena
Bijaya JenaJun 09, 2017 | 15:35

How Russian film Loveless unravels the truths of broken marriages

In the recently-concluded 70th Cannes Film Festival, Russian film-maker Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless shone like a lone star. His last film Leviathan, dealing with Russian politics in a small village was one of the finest films of 2015.

After the Polish film-maker Kieselowski and Romanian talent Christian Mungiu, no East European film-maker has dealt with social issues with as much psychological acuity as Zvyagintsev.

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He attributes his influence to Bergman's scenes from a marriage in his second film Loveless. It starts with an almost-divorced couple, Boris and Zhanya bickering at each other without bothering about their 12-year-old son, Alyosha.

Boris must keep the sham of the marriage in order to keep his job. Both parents go around with their respective paramours who are very well connected with their loved ones. There is more of a physical manifestation of love between Boris and his pregnant girlfriend than an emotional one.

A neglected Alyosha roams around alone in the woods. He overhears the parents squabbling and shuts himself in the toilet with tears in his eyes. His whole world crumbles. One day Alyosha goes missing. A police complaint is lodged. The search mission starts. This sequence reminds me of Mrinal Sen's Ek Din Pratidin where a lower middle-class family falls on hard times when the breadwinner daughter does not return from work one evening. The family takes the daughter for granted,  and now she becomes the focus of their life for purely selfish reasons.

In Loveless, Boris' girlfriend has a supportive mother; she feels insecure about Boris while Zheny's lover is a very affectionate man.

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Zvyagintsev slowly builds up tension and anxiety regarding Alyosha's fate. And, as the chances of finding him seem slim, his parents, Boris and Zhanya gradually grow more human.

They both drive to Zheny's mother's house to look for him. What is revealed is Zhenya's loveless past. Her mother starts reprimanding Zhenya even in the time of her grief.

It is obvious that selfishness is passed on to the next generation. How can a mother offer emotional security to the child if she herself has not experienced it, but only witnessed authoritarian, mean behaviour?

Loveless is a film that confronts us with the most unthinkable challenges of the values of family life. Having children is a moral duty, which has its own rewards. But the nurturing of love needs the right climate, which lacks in the current society the director is talking about.

The state encourages perks for married couples and people take advantage the provision. But they are stuck in loveless marriages without bothering about the fate of a child born in such an atmosphere.

There is a TV telecast of Mayan apocalyptic prophecy and the onset of the Ukraine war in the epilogue of the film, adding to the existential crisis of the middle class. The cinematographer, Mikhail Krichman is stunning whether it is in a derelict building or in the vast expanse of a forest, or a snowfall. The music elevates the visuals.

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Loveless may not be as staggering as his previous film Leviathan but it has a haunting beauty that leaves us with a deep, necessary introspection about present day society.

Last updated: June 09, 2017 | 15:35
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