Elena (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2011)

Elena, a humble woman trying to do well for her feckless unemployed son and his family, lives in an opulent Moscow flat with her rich husband, who also has a spoilt daughter of his own. He refuses to subsidise her son's life despite her repeated entreaties. Then he has a heart attack and an opportunity presents itself to rectify matters.
The character of Elena is closely akin to how the Russians seem to see their nation; silently and stoically suffering the vicissitudes of a cruel world. All the characters apart from her are self-centered and there is no sense of any community between the enclaves of the rich and the tower-block slums, the gap being filled only by TV and anarchy. The main virtues of the film, its adherence to realism and avoidance of pat moralising, also make it a grim experience to sit through as the director clearly sees no prospect of redemption for the society he dissects so succinctly.

6/10