Loveless (2017) User Reviews

Selfies, selfishness and sex: a pessimistic view on society

[Teyss · 9/10 · 3 October 2017]

"Nelyubov" ("Loveless") starts as a psychological movie about a divorcing couple, then evolves into a thriller after their child disappears, focusing on the search. Yet overall it is a critical view on modern society, notably Russian.

WE HIT BOTTOM...

The tone is pessimistic. The story focuses on a few individuals, however news heard on the radio or TV are depressing: the end of the world, corruption, war (Ukraine). Characters are confronted to a harsh environment: at work, bosses impose their arbitrary views to employees (no divorce, religion); the police cannot assist to find a missing child; missing children are commonplace.

The main victims of society are children. They are not desired and/or are not taken care of:

• Zhenya wishes she had aborted.
• None of the parents want to keep Alyosha.
• We understand Boris' girlfriend got pregnant "by accident".
• Zhenya did not have any milk for Alyosha when he was a baby (a revealing metaphor).
• Zhenya and Boris only realise after two days that their son is missing.
• At the end, Boris removes the crying baby instead of taking care of him.

All this is a repetition of the past: Zhenya was not desired by her mother either and now has harsh contacts with her. Hence we feel that eventually children will grow up to be like their parents, forever perpetuating the lack of love within families. This perpetuation is emphasised by similar shots at the beginning and end of the movie: empty snowy landscapes with the same tense music.

The "loveless" context spreads to all relationships:

• Zhenya tells Anton she loves him but he does not answer
• At the restaurant, a young lady easily gives her mobile number to a complete stranger... before sitting down with her date.
• People only care about themselves: what matter most is wealth (Zhenya's comment about Anton), appearance (the beautyparlour) and social media (various selfies).
• Symbolically, when the coordinator questions Alyosha's friend at school, the blackboard in the background shows cold mathematical formulas instead of words or drawings (detail emphasized afterwards when the teacher erases the board).

... AND DIG

The atmosphere is not only bleak: it deteriorates progressively, noticeably after Alyosha's disappearance. This evolution is illustrated in different ways:

• SITUATIONS. At the beginning, Zhenya and Boris are separating cruelly, but are hoping for a fresh start in new relationships. These are shown in parallel, always in the same two apartments, highlighting their similarities and hence developing a systemic view on couples. First, the vision seems positive: the two new couples each have dialogues and a long erotic scene. However, couples then slowly drift apart: dialogues are reduced, doubts about the relationship emerge, there are no erotic or tender scenes any more. Finally, couples are physically separated despite being in the same home: Anton watches TV while Zhenya practices on the balcony; Boris watches TV while his girlfriend talks to her mother in the kitchen.

• IMAGE. To start with, shots highlight the tension between Zhenya and Boris, living together unwillingly: the camera uses long focals (sharp foregrounds, blurred backgrounds); frames are saturated (Boris in the crowded elevator, Zhenya in the crowded metro, close shots on the tray at the canteen, etc.). After Alyosha disappears, characters seem lost among high buildings, deserted places and endless forests. They increasingly bump against elements: cold and wet weather, metal fences (twice), large river, gigantic radar in the middle of the forest. Noises are menacing: barking dogs, traffic, planes, etc.

• PLACES. After Alyosha disappears, cosy apartments are replaced by Zhenya's mother's neglected house, then a huge derelict building, then a dreadful mortuary. The sequence in the derelict building is pivotal: it used to be a pleasant place of gathering (room with many seats), music (standing piano) and enjoyment (beautiful art deco bar); all is now destroyed. The schoolyard, where children ran at the very beginning of the movie, is now empty, just filled with snow. At the very end, Alyosha's bedroom is torn down and completely reworked: the little that remained of the boy's soul is definitely gone.

• ALYOSHA. The boy actually is the main role: he opens the movie and is very present in the first part; after he disappears the entire plot revolves around his search. Yet we never see him again: this vacuum becomes the icon of a soulless society. The only elements that eventually remain from him are the posters with his picture, scattered in empty places, and the tape he threw into the tree at the beginning: two derisory reminders of his existence. (Side note: the tape is striped red-and-white for safety, announcing the forthcoming tragedy.)

The overall message is: we could have built a convivial society, but instead brought void and selfishness. Economic conditions can only partly be blamed since characters belong to middle or upper class. At the end, Zhenya is running on a machine, outside in winter, wearing a training suit proudly showing "RUSSIA": this cold society seems to be moving, but it is standing still, going nowhere. Meanwhile, Anton and Boris are watching propagandist news on TV. The allegory could hardly be more explicit: it is common knowledge that Zvyagintsev is very critical towards his country in general and the present government in particular.

That said, "Nelyubov" has a few downsides.

• It is almost too skillful: messages and codes ooze from every situation, with minutely crafted images.
• The vision is hopeless: nobody is truly positive, except maybe Alyosha who precisely disappears and the volunteers who mostly remain anonymous (the exception being the coordinator, who is nevertheless severe).
• Characters are somewhat stereotyped: to summarise, women are hysterical and men autistic.

All these elements render the movie relatively one-sided, almost cynical: everything is thrown overboard.

Nonetheless, "Nelyubov" remains an aesthetically impressive movie, to the extent that it never feels long despite its minimal action. Zvyagintsev again demonstrates he now is one of the leading Russian directors. His mastery seems to increase with every movie.

Reflects the growing emptiness of human relationships

[howard.schumann · 9/10 · 15 October 2017]

Whether or not it is designed as an allegory of modern Russia, no film in recent memory has examined the growing emptiness of human relationships with such expressive force as Andrei Zvyagintsev's ("Leviathan") Loveless, a heart wrenching drama about a couple on the brink of divorce whose emotional neglect of their son leads to devastating consequences. Though the film has been characterized as "bleak," the feeling tone is more like sadness and regret that many today have lost the capacity for compassion and empathy. Accompanied by Evgeny Galperin's rich cascading piano score, the film opens as cinematographer Mikhail Krichman surrounds us with the quiet beauty of a Russian winter.

Almost immediately, we are staring at an cold-looking stone building that could easily be a prison in Siberia. There is no sound or movement. Suddenly a door opens and children, released from school, swarm through its exits. Though some are laughing, it is not a happy scene. 12-year-old Aloysha (Matvey Novikov) makes his way home through a barren forest but there are no warm greetings awaiting him. The marriage between his mother, beauty-salon owner Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and his father Boris (Alexey Rozin, "Leviathan"), a desk-ridden management functionary, is over. Seeking status, money, and freedom, both are immersed in new relationships. Boris is with the pregnant Masha (Marina Vasilyeva, "Name Me") and Zhenya with the well-to-do business executive Anton (Andris Keishs, "What Nobody Can See").

Though their apartment has been advertised for sale and their divorce is in its final stages, custody of Alyosha has not yet been agreed upon. It is clear that he is an unwanted child, the result of an unexpected pregnancy and a marriage of convenience. Like emotionless machines, the warring couple continue their repetitive spiral of mutual recrimination as Alyosha crouches behind the bathroom door. Fearful and alone he absorbs every last ounce of malice, his face becoming contorted into a mass of silent tears that well up from deep within his being. It is a shocking scene that mirrors every despair the world has ever known.

Since the film takes place in the year 2012, talk radio focuses on the Mayan calendar and its apocalyptic date in December. News reports tell us about the bloody war in the Ukraine. Amidst the barely-controlled paranoia in the air, Boris tells a co-worker that he is afraid to lose his job if his boss, a fundamentalist Christian, finds out about his impending divorce. Fear of losing his job becomes secondary, however, when Zhenya tells him that Alyosha has not shown up for school for two days and is now missing. Far from coming together to patch up their differences, however, the estranged couple only double-down on their mutual acrimony.

The inefficient police offer little expectation that they can find the boy and try to reassure the parents that, in most cases, a missing child is with a friend or relative or out on an adventure and will soon return home. Not satisfied with officialdom's inertia, they turn to a volunteer group who put up posters, talk to teachers and neighbors. An interview with Alyosha's only friend points them to an abandoned apartment in the middle of a forest. In a scene of eerie darkness where there is a palpable feeling of hopelessness and loss, the rescuers, wearing bright orange jackets, comb every space in the decrepit building but Alyosha is not found.

A boy matching Alyosha's description is found at a nearby hospital but it is not him, and a subsequent visit to the morgue only offers more tears. Taking a risk, the two visit Alyosha's mother but the visit only succeeds in bringing hatred up to a level of ecstasy. With no explanation in sight, Zvyagintsev teases us with the sight of an unknown man walking alone into the forest, a man hidden from the camera in a fancy restaurant asking a call girl for her phone number which she provides while looking directly into the camera, a man pausing at a bus stop to read the flier about the missing boy, then turning and walking away, and a teacher cleaning her blackboard after students have left.

These tantalizing scenes, however, do not bring us any closer to a solution to the mystery of Alyosha's disappearance. Loveless is a deeply disturbing film that explores the dark places of human behavior, upending our most cherished beliefs about the bond between parents and children. Making it clear about what can happen when an unwanted child is brought into the world, Anton tells Zhenya that no one can survive a life without love. If Loveless serves as any kind of warning, it may be to help us discover that the world cannot survive either unless we begin to re-envision it as sacred.

Excellent drama about unhappy people

[rubenm · 8/10 · 1 October 2017]

Parents love their children. It's one of the most fundamental and universal forces in the world.

But not in this film. Zhenya openly regrets not having aborted her son, who is now 12 years old, and her husband Boris agrees that an abortion would have been better for everyone. This unhappy family is finally falling apart: Zhenya and Boris are getting a divorce and are considering a boarding school for their son. Both hope to find happiness with new partners, and clearly they don't want the boy to interfere.

This situation takes an unexpected twist when the son doesn't turn up at home after school. Reluctantly, the parents inform the police about the missing child. A volunteer corps starts a search of the neighbourhood. Even after the boy's computer is inspected, his best friend has revealed their secret hideaway, and his grandmother has been visited for possible clues, the boy is not found.

The search for the boy puts Boris and Zhenya in a ambivalent situation: they are supposed to be heartbroken, but in reality they consider the disappearance of their son as a rather fortunate event. On their minds are their respective new partners, more than the whereabouts of the boy.

Just leave it to director Andrey Zvyagintsev to turn this situation into an excellent, but pitch black drama without even the least shimmer of hope. The hate between Boris and Zhenya is extremely intense, and the rest of the cast doesn't show much human warmth either. On countless occasions, the characters check the screen of their smartphone. When nobody exchanges a smile or a kind word, digital friendships are better than nothing. The last scenes are the most desperate: even with their new partners, Boris and Zhenya don't seem to find any happiness.

Surprisingly, Zvyangintsev doesn't use any urban decay or Russian dreariness to accentuate the general negativism. On the contrary, Moscow looks modern and many scenes could just as well have been set in an American or European city.

Apart from the drama of a family falling apart, the film has something to say about Russia. There are news flashes about the war with Ukraine, and a police officer complains about not having enough resources to fight all the crime that's going on. The ultimate metaphorical statement is in the very last scene: Zhenya is running on a treadmill, wearing a training jacket with 'Russia' on it - not even in Cyrillic letters. The message: Russia is wasting its energy and not making any progress.

Loveless is an unforgettable experience, a film that is recommended to everyone.

[Panos242 · 10/10 · 22 October 2017]

Andrey Zvyagintsev is one of the best directors nowadays and i truly regard Loveless his greatest film so far. It is a complex, deep portrait of a society in decay since it is composed of superficial people, extremely selfish and harsh. What really matters is their little world and their perfect image which is filtered through the social media. People totally empty whose attitude will have tragic consequences. Loveless is a socking experience because of its unbearable truth. This society that is described could be anywhere. Not only in Russia. So, besides the perfect screenplay, Loveless carries an absolutely powerful direction and a hauntingly beautiful cinematography. Moreover editing, music and acting are all top class. Loveless is an unforgettable experience, a film that is recommended to everyone. It will make you think and think for good. 10/10

A Silent Meditation On Resentment, Regret, Loss & Toxic Relationships

[CinemaClown · 13 February 2018]

Nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Oscars, Loveless is a tragedy film concerning a dysfunctional family that comes pierced with elements of mystery & political undercurrents. Encapsulated with a bleak tone & cold aura, it's a silent meditation on resentment, regret, loss & toxic relationships.

Set in Moscow, the story of Loveless follows a couple that's already broken up and is in final stages of a bitter divorce. Having already found new partners, their only unresolved matter is the custody of their 12-year old child whom neither of them want. But when the kid goes missing one day, the circumstances bring the parents together.

Co-written & directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev (best known for Leviathan), the film brims with a charged atmosphere whenever the parents are in the same room and its toll on their only son who already feels unloved is heartbreaking to watch. The parents' individual lives are firmly established before the main plot kicks in, which makes their scenes together later even more riveting.

Cinematography operates the camera in a silent but smooth fashion and employs exquisite use of its cold colour palette which, in addition to its wintry ambience, only amplifies its gloomy tone. Its 128 minutes runtime is glacially paced, giving the narrative a slow burn vibe. Performances from its leads are strong & vicious while the kid playing their son leaves a solid impression in his limited screen time.

On an overall scale, Loveless is finely directed, well written & brilliantly acted but it requires a bit of patience at first and cuts real deep by the time it's over. Silently brooding & intense, it's a stark depiction of modern life in Russia. Definitely not a film for all, its slow pace & lack of proper resolution may bother few while others will be mesmerised by its unnervingly quiet tone, arresting photography, subtle political shades & social dynamics.

Zvyagintsev's most political movie to date

[zvitali-16700 · 10/10 · 21 February 2018]

Disclaimer: I am a Russian, although I have been out of the country for some years, I still visit every 2-3 years. I have watched all Zvyagintsev's movies, and this is his most political one yet.

Yes, of course, it is a heart-wrenching portrayal of a broken family relationship and Zvyagintsev's ability to weave your emotions as a rope is superb. The political message is very well hidden and only becomes apparent during the last scene, when Zhenya (the wife) is shown two years after the event, in a new relationship, still unhappy, running unhappily on a treadmill, and wearing a tracksuit that prominently displays word "RUSSIA" on the chest. And that is the key.

As events of the movie quietly unfold, you realize that Zhenya and Boris are not capable of sustaining any basic human relationship. They are unhappy in their existing relationship, but also quickly become unhappy in their new ones. Somehow, you just feel that both might be happier living on their own, but this is also not true, as evidenced by Zhenya's aging mother who is unhappily leaving alone in a house in the middle of nowhere without any desire to see her family members. So they are not happy alone, and they are not happy in a relationship because they don't appear to be able to sustain one for too long. And that is the reason for RUSSIA labeled tracksuit in the last scene. It is Russia as a country that is unhappy - being alone and isolated from the world. Russia is unhappy because it is incapable of sustaining any healthy relationship with anyone else. Using its neighbouring former republics as a shield from NATO? Manipulating regime in Syria to spite Americans and get a foothold in the Middle East? That wouldn't buy you much love. Can you name one country that Russia maintains a healthy relationship with on the basis of mutual trust and respect?

There is a secondary political message too, as portrayed by the poor boy Alyosha. He is unhappy because his parents do not love him. Do you know who is really unhappy? The Russians. It is they who got no love from their country. I felt it while I grew up there and I can vouch that people still pretty much feel the same way even now. Russia does not love Russians. There I said it. Almost all political decisions are made in such a way as to benefit the country as a whole rather than the people. Civil service works in such a way as it becomes unclear whether it is serving you or it is you who is serving them. People are an expendable grey mass that is used to prop up the country. False sense of pride, bolstered by recent military victories, is used a poor substitute for genuine love and care. And you see this in the movie - when Alyosha runs away, the country does not want to spare a dime to find him, outsourcing all work to volunteers.

But it is not all bleak. While Russians are unhappy because they got no love from their country, there is plenty of love to go around because if genuinely deep relationships with their fellow country people. Deeper relationships than I have seen in many other places I visited. Sometimes I feel a lack of deep friendships in the US is because nobody needs to rely on such relationships for survival as the country already takes such good care of its citizens. Russians do not have this luxury. And you again see this in the movie, portrayed by a volunteer group spending countless hours in rain and snow, looking for the boy and doing it entirely for free.

A multi layered loveless story in a sociocultural context

[dadadanner · 7/10 · 27 June 2017]

Grey day on the outskirts, silence and naked trees covered with the snow, the boy goes back home from the school playing with a red and white safety striped flagging tape that he will throw up on the tree branches and where it will stay. This gesture starts the story of Alyosha and his parents Boris and Zhenya, a family in the middle of divorce process. The latest movie of Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev Loveless (Nelubov') is a drama film that will show us a multi layered and rich in its senses story.

At the very beginning of the film we witness a verbally brutal quarrel between the spouses in which each of them try to avoid to keep the son. Both have already new partners and look forward to finally get rid of all disturbing for their future happy life circumstances. While parents assume Alyosha is sleeping or, what is more likely, they don't care at all about if he can hear them, we see the boy hiding behind the door and silently bursting out in tears.

Here is one of two most emotional peaks of the film. The two traumatic and heartbreaking climaxes (the second one at the end of the film) both include the boy, and it could be supposed that his figure is not only the trigger of the story but also something more like a core of the ideas represented in the movie. Born in 2000, disappeared in 2012 (both dates are connected with elections in Russia), wearing the red jacket (the colour of love) on the search photo and leaving the blue one (the colour of devotion and honesty) as the only detail they found from him after his disappearance, the character of Alyosha frames and seems to embody the changing atmosphere in society. Significantly, red and blue colours turn at the end into the white-blue-red training suit of Zhenya while she running on treadmill at the balcony of her luxurious new flat. The caption 'Russia' decorates her sweatsuit and, without a doubt, highlights one of the most easy-to-grasp metaphors, that director wanted to present his vision with.

Andrei Zvyagintsev puts an emphasis on details, often symbolic ones, and use them as a tool to transmit his personal views and comments on society. Loveless is full of tiny codes that the viewer could decipher according to his experience as well as origin. Zvyagintsev skilfully plays with stereotypes of contemporaneity such as family, success, politics and the national identity, and it would be too narrow to connect it only with Russian society. Often rough and too straightforward, the director steady prosects the world of the characters in conjunction with the atmosphere they live in, but, first of all, according to director's opinion, despite the desire of the viewer to believe without a doubt in it all is very strong. The environment of characters is supported on the background with carefully chosen bits of authentic TV and radio programs that reflect the current political and sociocultural state, the accidental small talks of other heroes in the movies work the same way.

In Loveless the viewer sometimes could find him-/herself wondering that the heroes and their reality are often binary. The ordinary conflict of a man and a woman, the desire to be happy and the unhappy reality, the stagnating bureaucracy of the police and prompt response of the volunteers searching for Alyosha, almost no shades in between. The end of the movie eliminates even this scarce diversity, bringing the director's relentless conclusion about contemporary human soul to its totality. Common knowledge, that at its best could be characterised by Leo Tolstoy phrase that 'happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way' in this movie doesn't work. In their new 'happy' families Boris and Zhenya are equally lost, apathetic and even speechless. Seems that the loveless goes on and one can wonder if it was ever different.

Scathing Indictment of Modern Parenting

[evanston_dad · 9/10 · 12 March 2018]

My wife and I frequently find ourselves wondering why so many people we know decided to even have children in the first place, so little priority do they give them in their lives. They act like children are a roadblock to all of these exciting things they would otherwise be doing, instead of recognizing them as exciting things in their own right and probably more likely to enrich their lives in ways that matter than any of the other endeavors these people seem so fixated on. But they don't recognize this, and as a result the kids suffer for it.

"Loveless" is a bleak and scathing indictment of this kind of modern-day parenting, a world of selfish adults pursuing their petty little enjoyments while ignoring the children they voluntarily brought into the world. It's a tough film to watch, though not as tough as I thought it would be. The little boy at the center of the story isn't in the film very long before he goes missing, so we're spared scenes of the misery he feels at home with a super bitch of a mom and a checked out dad. The couple of scenes we get are enough. Then, the film turns into a "L'Aventurra" like odyssey as the parents and authorities go looking for him. What makes the film tough to watch more than anything are the horrid characters that populate it. These people may have once been happy, and maybe have the potential to be happy again, but if so we see no signs of it. These are wretched souls who take their misery out on each other, and walking out of the movie theater after this film was over was like walking into the fresh air after being trapped in a dank crawl space. The film is claustrophobic in its nihilism.

But, and this is a big "but," despite the above paragraph that makes this film sound like a chore to sit through, it's actually a wonderful movie and fascinating in a morbid kind of way. It's bleak to be sure, but people who are exhilarated by good film making can leave even a bleak movie on a high if it's done well, and this is one of those films.

Nominated for a 2017 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film from Russia.

Grade: A

Pretty solid, sometimes even devastatingly good

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 19 March 2018]

"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.

Might be the best and most melancholic film of the year.

[FilmsFillMyHoles · 9/10 · 24 December 2017]

Loveless is a depressingly profound experience.

It paints the world as it is, not shying away from showing the bitter emptiness, disconnect and sorrow (which we usually choose to ignore) that surrounds our society. The desperate search for happiness, the unbelievable selfishness, lack of compassion and love, as the title suggests, that seperates generations of people in our modern times of self-absorbed("anti")social media. The film manages to achive these incredible feats (without being preachy) in its fantastically written and acted multi-layered and complex characters, whom as the story goes on beautifully unravel from just simple despicable people to characters that you understand and by the end sort of empathize with and pity (though not all of them: the character of the father is kind of an exception, he's a bit underdeveloped). Though our main characters represent what is wrong with our society, Loveless manages to keep a hopeful balance showing the good side as well with its selfless side-characters, the search party.

Andrey Zvyagintsev's direction is immaculate, from the beautiful cinematography, with its lingering shots of the dreary Russian winterlands and cityscapes filling you with a sense of melancholy and loneliness, to the authentic writing and the tragic story itself.

Loveless is a tough watch that challenges the warped values of the 21st century, holding a mirror towards our modern society, still unable to escape the same endless cycle it's always been trapped in. A dour but realistic meditation on humanity's need for love.

/as schmaltzy or cheesy as this review sounds I assure you the film is the furthest thing from being those things./

The end of the world is already here

[balans-79850 · 7/10 · 24 September 2017]

The case when the movie causes physical pain. If to characterize the film, I can say this: "You're asking if there will be an end of the world? But it has already come!".

On the one hand, the film shows a rather trivial situation, when the family is in trouble, there is no peace. Boredom and dullness. On the other hand, Evil is clearly shown as a form of total dislove. No one loves anybody: neither the mother the son, nor the husband wife, nor the man of man... Poor, lonely people are everywhere and forever.

A powerful critique of modern society

[proud_luddite · 8/10 · 24 April 2018]

Moscow, 2012: Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and Boris (Aleksey Rozin) are a miserably married couple preparing for a divorce as they try to sell their apartment. Each has a new lover as they prepare for their new lives but both are negligent of their tormented twelve-year old son, Alyosha (Matvey Novikov) - thus causing a major twist in the story.

Director/co-writer Andrey Zvyagintsev created a sensation with the very powerful "Leviathan" released in 2014. The earlier film was very critical of the authorities in Russian society (which irked actual Russian authorities) while "Loveless" is critical of the degradation of Russian individuals and society in general. Some characters are more attached to their smartphones than to the people around them. Boris is attached to the endless news cycle. (In one such scene, it is fascinating to hear the biased Russian media's take on the troubles in Ukraine a few years back).

Boris's worst characteristic is his extreme indifference to others while Zhenya is a verbally abusive monster. It is easy to despise her for the way she treats her husband and son but her story is brought to the forefront when the viewer witnesses her with her equally monstrous mother (Natalya Potapova). At this point the viewer sees Zhenya as someone at both ends of the tragic "unwanted child" syndrome - a trait that is sadly hereditary.

Among Zvyagintsev's gifts is the way he handles sex scenes. Rather than the quasi-pornography that is rampant in modern films, the sex scenes in this film are actually erotic and intimate. And despite the film's title, they do represent rare moments when people are loving toward each other.

He is also adept at maintaining a bleak mood throughout the film - one that reflects most of the characters and the society around them. There is an extended scene that involves an abandoned building. One can't help but observe that the building looks functional and even pleasant in some rooms. Like some of the human characters, it was unnecessarily neglected and left to rot.

The epilogue of "Loveless" takes place a few years after the main story. Without giving anything away, its conclusion is sad yet not altogether surprising considering the scenes that preceded it. It's the right conclusion for a very good film with very powerful performances. And its subtle jab against the degradation of people via modern technology is not just a Russian problem; it's truly universal. - dbamateurcritic

A truly sad story.

[SGuiliano1064972 · 7/10 · 24 November 2018]

After watching this film last night on STARZ, I must say that this is a very good film about a divorced couple coming to grips with their missing son. But what amazes me or should I say not surprised is the relationship with their boys parents on how they put each other down, constantly arguing. But we forget, or they forget about a 12 year old boy that's been missing for the past several days. All through the Film, since the boy's disappearance, You can feel for the two and you want the boy to be found and that's all I will say. NO SPOILERS, here. The acting and the cinematography is excellent. What makes this film exceptionally great was there's no violence. All scenes were remarkable. A soft, deplorable and absorbing drama. Rating: 7.8.

Loveless and Pointless

[thefish-30909 · 4/10 · 13 November 2023]

I thought twice before deciding to review this film - simply on the basis I was not sure I would be able to come up with the 600 characters required for submission. The first half of this film provides limited detail and background to the premise of the film - two "parents" unable to provide and warmth or love to their son due to have not receiving any themselves (nothing new here). The second half of the film is simply the search for the boy who has runaway having overheard his parents discussing their lack of feelings for him. The dark and rather depressing nature of this film would be fine were it not so remarkably boring.

Soaked in pathos

[ed-1975 · 10/10 · 30 December 2017]

In many ways this film is so Russian that unless you are Russian or have spent a considerable time in Russia you may miss many of the subtler parts of this film - recurring motifs - but this does not detract from an absolutely intelligent and realistic film.

Heavy on symbolism I remained enthralled throughout, a deeply original and emotive work that will resonate in the mind long after viewing. A Masterpiece.

It deserves no less than the maximum 10/10.

Ugliness and beauty intertwine in such a hostile terrain.

[Ron_Solina · 10/10 · 24 September 2018]

Severe and un-melodramatic portrayal of a couple who's at each other's throats and are desperately finalizing their divorce, where both are reluctant in looking out for the best interest of their 12-year-old kid, whom they consider more of a hindrance to their own separate paths to happiness.

It's the feeling of awfulness and marvel in seeing the beauty and the nastiness of humanity that occur in such a cold, stark environment which leaves a lasting impression to the viewer. With shot compositions that never for once looks contrived, effortless in photographing the quotidian scenery, it overwhelms, suffocates and unnerves the viewer by reminding that the onset of the winter season also reflects the bitterness the kid will have to face with the disintegration of his only known family.

The film focuses on Maryana Spivak (Zhenya) and Aleksey Rozin (Boris), who both did a stupendous job in capturing the varying degrees of steely disposition that overflows on such narcissists, way too consumed of the image that they would project to the people that surround them yet lacks the basic empathy to their own flesh and bone, Alyosha (Matvey Novikov in a heart-wrenching performance). But such uncaring demeanor as parents contrasts with that of the upright response shown by a few of their friends and complete strangers in manifesting the spirit of volunteerism. Decent performances from the supporting actors, apart from Natalya Potapova playing Zhenya's mother who almost steals the film with just a single scene in displaying such dreadfulness that rivals that of the irreconcilable couple, each and every one of them gives subdued and understated performances that's much like the way the strategically used minimalist musical score penetrates the background, and the way those inconspicuous brooding scenes transitions to yet another inconspicuous brooding scene.

Zvyagintsev's decision to end the film in an ambiguous note, just utter perfection, not wanting to petrify or shatter the viewer's feelings after witnessing a tragic story. It's the speculation of what the ending signifies that leaves a much more menacing outcome, and it should, (At least, that's how it worked for me), for people to have a more determined resolve in withstanding hardships that life has to offer because, the thing is, the end will never be nigh.

--A-plus--

These Are Not Nice People

[boblipton · 6/10 · 24 December 2021]

Maryana Spivack and Aleksey Rozin are getting divorced,. They've moved on to new lovers and have to sell their old apartment and deal with the fact that his boss is a Fundamentalist Christian who will fire him if he finds out he has gotten a divorce, which will compromise child support for their 12-year-old son. They're two smart, attractive-looking, terrible human beings, and when their son turns up missing, the audience gets to watch them fight and wrangle and be terrible human beings for two hours and seven minutes. There are brief respites when we watch the guy in charge of the volunteers who help find kidnapped children -- because the authorities are terrible -- who is efficient at his job, and it's always a pleasure to watch someone do a job well. There's also one funny scene in which the two leads go visit her terrible mother to see if the son is there. She's old and paranoid and as hateful as her daughter, and so forth.

All the shots are deliberately slow so the awfulness of the situation can penetrate to anyone who isn't aware that this is a bad thing; and there are plenty of recapitulated shots to serve as chapter headings, so people will know that, well, doctor, here we are again. The performances are great, but perhaps a general nuclear strike would be the best ending to this movie.

This should've won Best Foreign Language Movie Oscar (but likely deemed too bleak)

[paul-allaer · 9/10 · 25 March 2018]

"Loveless" (2017 release from Russia; 127 min.) brings the story of Boris and Zhenya and their 12 yr. old son Alexey. As the movie opens, school les out and Alexey takes the long way home, through a nearby park. At home, we quickly learn that Zhenya and Boris are going through a bitter and antagonizing divorce. They argue relentlessly, all the while thinking Alexey doesn't hear them But he hears them all too well... Boris and Zhenya are already in new relationships. Then one day, Alexey doesn't come home from school. Where could he be? Can Boris and Zehnya patch their personal differences in looking for their son? To tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Russian writer-director Andrey Zvyagintsev, who previously brought us such excellent films like 2012's Oscar-nominated Leviathan, and 2011's Elena. In "Loveless", he goes a very different direction, examining modern day life in Moscow with its endless apartment buildings, and the correlating urban loneliness. The very bitter feelings between Boris and Zhenya are at times shocking, but feel very real. The two Russian actors playing the roles of Boris and Zhenya are unknown to me, but are nothing short of outstanding. I absolutely love how Zvyagintsev chooses a camera angle and setup, and then simply lets the scene unfold. Check the lunch scene between Boris and his co-worker, where they discuss their company's policy on divorce, all playing out over several minutes in a single take without any camera angle changes. The second half of the movie, focusing on the search for Alexey, is simply chilling and by the end of the movie I was emotionally spent. That is of course a dead giveaway that I was emotionally involved and invested in the movie, the sign of a top quality movie, "Loveless" was nominated at this year's Oscars for Best Foreign Language Movie, but did not win. I have now seen all 5 of the Oscar nominated movies in this category, and with all due respect to the Oscar winner "A Fantastic Woman", I have no doubt in my mind that "Loveless" is a better movie, and should've won. Alas, I am also quite certain that quite a few of the Oscar voters were turned off by the very bleak nature of "Loveless", in fact quite the opposite of "A Fantastic Woman". After the thinly-veiled criticism of the Russian authorities in "Leviathan", it came as no surprise that the Russian government refused any funding for "Loveless", so Zvyagintsev had to obtain funding from elsewhere (mostly Western Europe).

"Loveless" premiered at last year's Cannes festival to immediate critical acclaim. It finally opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended dismally (4 people in total, including myself). That is a darn shame. Hopefully this movie will gain a wider audience as it gets distributed on various platforms. If you are in the mood for a devastating family drama movie that is nothing short of top-notch, I encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater (while you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

a devastating picture of lovelessness is all around

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 16 October 2020]

There is much to be admired here including some of the cinematography and the way the actions of the couples and their extra marital affairs are entwined but although tension does finally begin to build up out in the woods and particularly when involving the deserted buildings. we have had a long wait. I feel that the director needed and managed to acquire much support for this venture but possibly lacked having someone around to suggest some trimming. This is longer than it need be and could have been tightened seemingly quite easily without any effective loss to the story or its power. There is considerable power here and a devastating picture of lovelessness is all around. There seems to be more than an element of misogyny here with the wives and mothers clearly being cast as the baddies and how much that is a reflection of Russian society or the director's feelings is hard to tell after only having seen the one film. But the open displays of disgust by mother and grandmother for the child and seeming use of pregnancy as manipulation are disturbing. Lots of interesting things going on within this very harsh and pessimistic film. The radio broadcast towards the end informing of the ongoing battle with Ukraine seems a little forced and whilst it is possible this venture is making domestic life more difficult and that the director wishes to make this point, it is not very convincing. If he wants to make a larger point about the government's priorities for its people then again, there is not enough clarity. The chatter about war is indeed made to seem even less relevant with the final shots, echoing the film's opening, with ambiguous shots above the deserted lake and the fluttering streamer.

Everything in life is a circling, if you won't manage to fix it, karma will always follow you

[lika1997 · 10/10 · 27 August 2017]

The director Zvyagintsev perfectly displays how imperfect are people today. The film shows how much people can not love each other, be selfish, and how not to be happy. The message is very clear, it does not call you to not love, but opposite, shows the effect of it. Hate and loveless is in every second and shot of the film. And also music, is very cold and strongly underlines the emptiness from love in the reality.

Two main protagonists, the parents – Boris and Evgenia, are both negative characters. Both filled with a heap of resentment, despair and sorrow from unfulfilled hopes and dreams. Their emotions are like a stretched string that does not make a sound. The words of Evgenia – "I just want to be happy" while crying shows her misery. Evgenia was saying that the only thing she dreamt about is to leave her mother, and we can understand her after watching her mother's hysterical monologue in the house. She is a woman who cares only about social media and reality shows about love on TV in the evenings, who regrets having a son, and every time she was showing that and every time it sounded terrible... Even not calling him a man in front of other people. From other perspective she is acting as a good friend and a perfect woman in front of her rich lover.

Boris is a man who cares only about having a good job and a good name in the company. He is not able to be a loving husband or a father what is displayed in the end of the film. His new life did not born any new feelings in him, the only thing he is interested are the news on TV.

After parents decide to divorce after 12 years of marriage and come to the point where their son Alesha has no place in their new lives, decide to give him away to children's home but they can't decide who will tell him about that as none of them really cares how he will be. After young boy hears the conversation he decides to run away from the house. Before he was a cute boy, playing, drawing, chatting with a friend about some cool places in the forest but after this conversation he even stronger realized that after school his way will be to children's house..all his hopes died. This very small scene with him is very emotional, I personally couldn't take it out of my head throughout the whole film.

After that we don't see the boy in the film and I was not interested watching his parents at all. Only thing what was on my mind was a boy, but here is the most genius decision… we face the reality. After the tragedy watching parent's reaction was shameful. They were trying to visually participate in looking for the son but all this was fake.

Again director displays today's people's priorities. Giving away the number in the restaurant quickly and going back to the table with non- handsome but rich man, scrolling news feed non-stop, taking pictures and drinking for love and selfies. Also can't not mention the police, their words that "statics are always right", their indifferent approach to the situation, "be thankful for having an information how it works" and then we see volunteers who are looking for an unknown to them boy day and night non-stop for free, and after that we ask, who is working in the police? Where is humanity? Cast is perfect, never extra people in the film, with each shot getting only important information about the protagonists.

The open ending films always make you think about the story, so what happened? But in my case I thought about a detail in morgue (which was really emotional) if the boy that was found was really him or not…who knows maybe it was him and parents decided to not to know about it? But otherwise they would have felt better if they "got rid of him" that way.

Camera work is amazing! It was a pleasure to watch the scenes. Colours, angles and eloquent shots that were saying everything! In the first seconds when it was shown naked trees and also a broken tree at the lake, it straight away gave the atmosphere that something will go wrong… Also the music was brilliant, it was fulfilling the atmosphere…. The scare, fairs, hate…all was felt in the music.

Remarkably, I liked the film and an open ending could be interpreted in different ways, but for me it was clear that whatever happens, people don't change. Boris is cold to his new child and wife… And Evgenia also became as cold as she was with Boris in the beginning.. scrolling her phone and not being as lovely as before.

I would recommend it to everyone and ask to analyze for themselves, what they will find in common.

Not satisfying.

[deloudelouvain · 6/10 · 14 December 2018]

I won't write anything bad about the actors as the acting was good. I don't know anybody from the cast but then again I'm not very familiar with Russian actors. The story itself has some problems though. Not that it wasn't entertaining or captivating to watch but it sometimes just fell too long. The beginning of the story is just about the development of the bad relation between the mother and the father, about their selfish view on how to raise their only child. The second part is about the disappearance and searching for their son. It's not badly done but for a long movie I need answers at the end. They had time enough to come with a proper ending so I'm not going to be satisfied with an open ending. Something I will never be actually, as a movie needs a proper ending, good or bad, it doesn't matter. Too bad in this case they didn't put some effort into that.

Loveless expresses parental neglect against the dehumanisation of bitter suburbia.

[TheMovieDiorama · 10/10 · 25 January 2020]

The year is 2012. Forewarnings, predicted by the Mayan calendar, of an impending apocalypse plague the radio stations of Russia. Listeners commuting to and from work subliminally digesting words of societal annihilation from harbingers. The inevitable collapse of civilisation. Russia's bureaucratic bodies preoccupied with the administrative tasks that the Putin regime prioritise for them. The bigger picture. The federation. Consequently, menial crimes and cases are neglected by policing forces, who are immersed in concealing anarchy. A pivotal hurdle for two separated parents in the midst of a bitter divorce, brought back together temporarily to find their missing son.

Policing entities are unconcerned. A perspective that Zvyagintsev provides skeptically for viewers to make judgement on, enabling him to shine an angelic light upon the search-and-rescue volunteer group. Nonprofit entities bypassing an oppressive state for the betterment of families, offering a stark contrast against the ineffectual police. Therefore, at its core, a familial drama. A narrative structure that Zvyagintsev's direction is most comfortable in portraying.

Loveless may conceive political undertones, less expressive than that in 'Leviathan', yet predominantly provided insight into the theme of lovelessness. Anti-love. The state in which one simply cannot live. Zhenya and Boris resent each other. Loathe the very space they share together. Two humanised individuals with the emotional capacity of vacuous narcissistic monsters. Representations of societal souls tainted by self-absorption and media corruption. Alyosha, their young teenage son, remains trapped in the middle of two parents who neglect him. Unwanted. Zhenya, enamoured by social media, yearns for his "father" to nurture him. Likewise Boris would rather opt for his "mother" to tend to his needs.

Through argumentative domestic confrontations, the central theme of parental neglect seeps through the cracks. Alyosha silently crying, coming to terms that he is unacknowledged. Abandoned by life, he disappears. Zvyagintsev painfully paints his masterpiece with bleak shades of darkened white snow. Again, the characters are directed from a neutral standpoint. Whilst the fatal flaws of both parents are more forthcoming than his previous features, judgement is exhumed from the viewer. Criminally neglectful? Or just distracted by the world around them?

The situational plot forces these characters to coexist and confront the relational life they once lived. Together. As a family. Zhenya visiting her mother only to reveal a hereditary source of bitterness. Boris coldly challenging the new family he has created in an attempt to reignite love. The search for Alyosha deepening an abyss of vacuity between them. Familial nihilism. Zvyagintsev bravely portrayed these characters as unlikeable, naturally forming our attachment to the absent son, and it worked beautifully. The purpose of Loveless is not to form an emotional attachment to these individuals, but to observe a drama rooted in abandonment from society itself.

Zvyagintsev's prolonged shots of weathered landscapes exemplify a bleak existential aura enveloping the case. Collapsed foliage in the oppressive environment signifying the diminishment of hope. Harsh snowfall threatening the search adjacent to an unwelcoming abandoned building. The persistent naturalism of Loveless created a dense eerie fog of depression, captured exquisitely by Krichman, a metaphorical weather that Zvyagintsev is well-known for producing.

Spivak and Rozin's despondent performances highlighting the lack of urgency that these parents embodied. Mellow throughout, forever regarding themselves and not their son. The Galperine's stringed score eternally lowering the suburban mood, diminishing hope as the feature progresses. Culminating a relentless search into an ambiguous test for love.

Love is existence. We cannot fully exist without its alluring power. To be loveless, is to be hollow. A shell of humanity. Zvyagintsev took every aspect of his previous works of art and orchestrated them into a symphony of poignant melancholia. Loveless though, is his masterpiece. And I have no qualms whatsoever in bestowing Loveless a perfect rating.

Depressing

[billcr12 · 6/10 · 8 February 2018]

The cold war is over but this downer of a film may bring it back. A divorcing Russian couple with a twelve year-old boy battle right from the start. They both have new significant others and are shown in a few unnecessary sex scenes, including one with a woman in the latter stages of pregnancy. I didn't need that. Meanwhile, the boy vanishes and the uncaring mom and dad go about their lives as if it doesn't really matter to them. Some volunteers help to look for the kid, and by the end I just wanted the parents to disappear. Loveless is nominated for Best Foreign Film at this years Oscars and I would be surprised if it wins.

One dimensional characters in a one dimensional story.

[Asimovo · 3/10 · 11 October 2017]

First of all I like to state that I'm a huge Andrey Zvyagintsev fan. Since his debut with Vozvrashchenie in 2003, on which he rightfully won the Golden Lion on the Venice Film Festival and with it's his followup movies The Banishment (2007), Elena (2011) and Leviathan (2014) nothing seems to be able to harm Zvyagintsev's brilliance in movie-making. Until now. Loveless is truly an overrated movie which is way to long, the story itself could have easily been told in 90 minutes instead of more then two hours. Sometimes long movies contribute with characters to develop, but in this movie the characters remains shallow, the boy that disappears has no depth in his character role what so ever so it's very hard to feel the "pain" of his disappearance. And also because the main two actors, husband and wives, show lack of depth in character it's pretty hard to get some kind of connection with the actors. But then you also have this tedious and most terrible aspect of this movie: quality of acting, or rather, a lack of acting quality. The only thing you see from the this wife character is anger, frustrations, as well when looking at her husband. You only see anger and frustration and fear, fear of how colloquies would react on work when he would state that he has been divorced. Literally everything in this scenario points out towards the same direction: the parents are all egocentric, self-indulgent angry people who have only interest in themselves or in the maybe consequences when divorce is imminent.

The victim is without a doubt the child.

It's so one sided and lacks so much nuances that the characters are becoming, for me at least, a characterization of the evil self destructing ego. A stereotype you might state of the egocentric side of humans. But life itself is anything but one dimensional and because of the one dimensional characters in this movie makes this movie hard to watch, let alone a movie to take seriously. A pity, because I'm a real fan of Andrey Zvyagintsev, I've got all of his movies but I'm not eager to add this one to my movie collection.

A Cold Russian Story

[pedrorodriguesfernandes · 8/10 · 20 January 2018]

Tells a tragic story with a beautiful and cold cinematography. Features powerful performances (specially with the roles of the mother, the father and the grandmother) although it suffers from a slow pace throught its long runtime. There were two scenes which I found particulary remarkable, those being: the one in the morgue and the argument with the grandmother. I felt some lack of character development and I wish I could have seen more of the kid, since we pretty much just followed the parents' point of view. Overall, the film managed to keep me interested and plugged even with a slow rythm, the acting and the direction of photography were its main strenghts. 7.7