"Nelyubov" or "Loveless" is a new Russian movie, with which writer and director Andrey Zvyagintsev continues his career in a really positive fashion, although probably not everybody will agree and the reason for that is that this is a really bleak movie from start to finish of its massive over 2 hours. There is not a great deal of action going on, it is much more about depicting certain situations and using these depictions to make this a convincing character study about more than just a handful characters. It is about the boy in the center of it all, even if his screen time is not too big, then the mother and father of course, but also their new significant others to some extent as we find out about their relatives too and their relationship with these. But yes, in the center of it all are definitely the parents and I think they are doing a really fine job together with the script in depicting the polar opposite of parents of the year. The one scene that describes it the best is probably when they are in the car together already looking for the boy and both say itg would have been best if she did abort him back then and all this in the face of the boy possibly facing death. Shocking stuff. Very fitting that the man sends the woman out of the car not much later, there is just no way they can function together anymore. I think this was a pretty good watch in its entirety, there were no major weaknesses at all, hardly no minor weaknesses even. The film succeeds very much in terms of atmosphere, performances and offers more than just a few scenes that stay in the head. this was a really good example of how to include nudity that it never feels for the sake of it, but as an essential part of the story. Of course there is the scene where we see the father in fron of the window and all we see is his black silhouette, this one is also used in the trailer.
And then a large portion of the film's appeal is about the audience wondering what happened to the boy? Is he dead? Will he live? Will we perhaps not find out. Well, sort of. I was not sure initially if tshe boy at the morgue really wasn't theirs because of the tears flooding out of both in there and I thought maybe it is denial, but the mole reference makes it the truth maybe. And perhaps the tears were also because they still don't have a solution, still cannot find peace, even if the reasonable approach would of course be to be happy it's not him because then all hope would be gone. The ending, and with that I mean the very final scene and shot even with the read-and-white band hanging up there in the tree indicates that the boy may actually have drowned in the water and that fits in with the quote from way earlier about how corpses in the water are for the police to find and with the general helplessness depicted by police in here as they will most likely never find him. But still life goes on one way or the other. New relationships arise, new children are born and it is not all a depressing movie, even if most of it certainly is. Nice to see this one receiving a lot of awards recognition, not just at the big events and I may have even liked it more as a winner than the actual winner from Chile, maybe more than all the nominees. This film offers a lot to discuss really and it is a truly strong achievement in terms of style, story-telling and atmosphere. Close for me to give this one an even higher rating, the ending definitely deserves it as it will really give you goosebumbs, also together with the music that initially seems not appropriate, but if you see the entire film, then it will fit very well. Also let me say that another favorite scene I had here was the one with the grandmother in the isolated house, a true scene stealer we got there. Maybe this scene alone is not reason enough to watch the film, but it sure helps in bringing up its quality, also because it shows that the broken relationship with parents may be one reason for the broken relationship with children. You definitely should see this one, especially if you have seen and liked previous works by Zyagintsev.
And then a large portion of the film's appeal is about the audience wondering what happened to the boy? Is he dead? Will he live? Will we perhaps not find out. Well, sort of. I was not sure initially if tshe boy at the morgue really wasn't theirs because of the tears flooding out of both in there and I thought maybe it is denial, but the mole reference makes it the truth maybe. And perhaps the tears were also because they still don't have a solution, still cannot find peace, even if the reasonable approach would of course be to be happy it's not him because then all hope would be gone. The ending, and with that I mean the very final scene and shot even with the read-and-white band hanging up there in the tree indicates that the boy may actually have drowned in the water and that fits in with the quote from way earlier about how corpses in the water are for the police to find and with the general helplessness depicted by police in here as they will most likely never find him. But still life goes on one way or the other. New relationships arise, new children are born and it is not all a depressing movie, even if most of it certainly is. Nice to see this one receiving a lot of awards recognition, not just at the big events and I may have even liked it more as a winner than the actual winner from Chile, maybe more than all the nominees. This film offers a lot to discuss really and it is a truly strong achievement in terms of style, story-telling and atmosphere. Close for me to give this one an even higher rating, the ending definitely deserves it as it will really give you goosebumbs, also together with the music that initially seems not appropriate, but if you see the entire film, then it will fit very well. Also let me say that another favorite scene I had here was the one with the grandmother in the isolated house, a true scene stealer we got there. Maybe this scene alone is not reason enough to watch the film, but it sure helps in bringing up its quality, also because it shows that the broken relationship with parents may be one reason for the broken relationship with children. You definitely should see this one, especially if you have seen and liked previous works by Zyagintsev.