Elena
Elena and Vladimir are an older couple, they come from different backgrounds.
Vladimir is a wealthy and cold man, Elena comes from a modest milieu and is a docile wife. They have met late in life and
each one has children from previous marriages. Elena’s son is unemployed and is constantly asking Elena for money, while Vladimir’s
daughter has a distant relationship with her father. A heart attack puts Vladimir in hospital, where he makes an important
decision: his daughter will be the sole heiress of his wealth. Elena‘s hopes to financially help her son suddenly vanish and
she comes up with a plan to give her son and grandchildren a real chance in life.
Director's Biography
Andreï Zvyagintsev, born 1964 in Novosibirsk, Russia. He graduated
from the acting department of the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts. In 2000 he made his directorial debut with three episodes
of REN TV’s “The Black Room”. His first feature film THE RETURN won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2003 for
the best directorial debut. ELENA premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, where it won
the Jury Prize. // Films (Selected): VOZVRASHCHENIE (The Return, 2003), IZGNANIE (The BANISHMENT, 2007), APOCRYPHA (2009,
short), ELENA (2011)
European Panorama Fiction 2012
Andreϊ Zvyagintsev
Russia 2011
color
109
minutes
OV with English subtitles
Screenplay
Oleg Negin/Andreï Zvyagintsev
Cinematography
Mikhail Krichman
Editing
Anna Mass
Sound/Sounddesign Andrey Dergachev/Stas
Krechkov
With Andrey Smirnov/Nadezhda
Markina/Elena Lyadova/Alexey Rozin/Evgenia Konushkina/Igor Ogurtsov/Vasiliy Michkiv/Alexey Maslodudov
Production
NON-STOP PRODUCTION Uspenskiy pereulok 3, bld 2 127006 Moscow
Russia T +7 916 641 67 19 shneyderova@gmail.com