The Banishment
Encyclopedia
The Banishment is a 2007 Russian film directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
. The film is a loose adaptation of The Laughing Matter, a 1953 novel by Armenian-American writer William Saroyan
. It stars Konstantin Lavronenko
and Maria Bonnevie
.
The film premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
and was nominated for the Palme d'Or
. Lavronenko won the Best Actor award at the festival. It was released in Russian cinemas on 2 October 2007. The film received mix reviews from critics.
) brings his wife Vera (Maria Bonnevie
) and two children for a trip to his childhood home in the countryside. The tranquillity of the countryside is broken when Vera tells Alex that she is pregnant and that the baby is not his. The rift between the couple grows but the two try to keep up appearances in the presence of their children and the old friends that visit them.
Alex is unsure about what to do and turns to his brother Mark (Aleksandr Baluyev) for advice. On the way to meet Mark at the train station, Alex's son Kir (Maksim Shibayev) reveals that Alex's friend Robert (Dmitri Ulyanov) was at their house one day while Alex was away for work. Alex concludes that Robert is the baby's father.
Vera feels that they have become estranged and is afraid of what Kir will turn into due to the criminal nature of Alex and his brother's work. In the film's opening scene, Mark comes to Alex's house for help removing a bullet from his arm.
In the end, Alex makes the decision to have an abortion
. While the children are at a friend's house, he gets Mark to find a doctor to perform the procedure. The abortion goes wrong and Vera dies. Alex and Mark rush the funeral formalities as gossip spreads quickly in the countryside. After returning home from the funeral parlour, Mark has a serious heart attack. Against the advice of the doctor, he attends Vera's funeral but dies before he and his brother return home.
Alex returns to the city alone and goes to Robert's house with the intention of killing him. Alex falls asleep in his car outside the house and is awoken by Robert who invites him in. As he retrieves the gun from the glove box, he discovers an envelope containing the results of Vera's pregnancy test and a letter written by Vera on the back. The film cuts to a flashback
of the time Robert came to Alex's home while he was away. It is revealed that the day before, Vera attempted to commit suicide
by overdosing on pills but is saved by Robert. The next day, Vera finds out she is pregnant and confides with Robert, revealing that she never had an affair and that the baby was in fact Alex's, even though she says it felt like it wasn't his.
's The Laughing Matter and spent ten years adapting the novel. Originally, the script had a lot of dialogue but Zvyagintsev said that when he started testing it with actors "it was a disaster" and had to remorselessly cut the dialogue. "The long dialogue would be impossible to film in a satisfying way. It would be very difficult for the actors to hold the viewers' attention for that long," said Zvyagintsev.
Zvyagintsev said "The entire success of the film depends on the cast. So I spend a long time finding exactly the right people. I always have an image of a particular character in mind, and then audition many actors and keep comparing the essence of the character with the essence of the people I meet. When the virtual and the real characters almost coincide, I know I've found my actor." Zvyagintsev tried to avoid casting Konstantin Lavronenko
who played a lead role in his previous film, The Return, but said "In the end I couldn't find anyone else who could be his equal." Zvyagintsev postponed filming and waited twelve months for actress Maria Bonnevie
who had a year-long contract with the Royal Dramatic Theatre
in Stockholm
.
The film had 103 shooting days in four different countries—France, Belgium, Moldova and Russia. The city scenes were filmed in Charleroi
, an industrial city in Belgium
. The house, the train station, the church, the cemetery and the wooden bridge next to the house were purposefully built on location near Cahul
, Moldova
. A shot involving a donkey which only lasts several seconds on screen took the crew half a day to film and used three cans of film. Zvyagintsev joked, "Now I say will never work with animals again." Zvyagintsev intentionally removed cultural references to the time and setting of the film. Special attention was paid to architecture, signs and the vehicles. Finnish bank notes were altered to make them look more abstract and a French sign was digitally removed in post-production.
, The Banishment has an overall approval rating from critics of 56%, with an average score of 5/10. David Gritten of The Daily Telegraph
called the film "a mythic masterpiece" and that "The Banishment confirms Zvyagintsev as a director of world stature." Film critic Patrick Z. McGavin said "the movie requires extraordinary patience, and those inclined to surrender to the film's heavy mood and elusive rhythm are bound to experience a significant revelation." The film's narrative has been described as "frustrating" and "suffers from structural problems." Sight & Sound
said "the film's dramatic narrative twist is clumsily rendered. Intended to disorientate, it comes over as contrived." The Guardian
s Peter Bradshaw
criticized the film's open-ended nature and how it left questions unanswered saying, "there is an outstanding film somewhere inside this sprawling mass of ideas, which might have been shaped more exactingly in the edit."
The cinematography by Mikhail Krichman received great praise from most critics. Its slow pace and long running time divided critics, having been described as "at times a painfully slow film" and "it slips gently by, holding the attention in an iron grip." Anton Bitel
said "the viewer's patience is rewarded with exquisite painterly images, some unexpectedly rapid developments and a truly bleak vision of human error and its consequences."
The film drew frequent comparisons to the works of Andrei Tarkovsky
, as well as visually referencing Ingmar Bergman
, Robert Bresson
, and Michelangelo Antonioni
. Birgit Beumers of KinoKultura criticized this aspect of the film, stating "these quotations are obtrusive and too obvious" while Neil Young's Film Lounge concurred, stating "Zvyagintsev has ended up merely aping the cinematic giants who have come before him." Empire
s David Parkinson said the film "feels more like a ciné dissertation designed to showcase Zvyagintsev's appreciation of the medium than an original piece of cinema."
Konstantin Lavronenko won the Best Actor award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
for his performance in the film.
Andrey Zvyagintsev
Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev is a Russian film director and actor. He is mostly known for his 2003 film The Return, which won him a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.-Biography:...
. The film is a loose adaptation of The Laughing Matter, a 1953 novel by Armenian-American writer William Saroyan
William Saroyan
William Saroyan was an Armenian American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.-Early years:...
. It stars Konstantin Lavronenko
Konstantin Lavronenko
Konstantin Nikolaevich Lavronenko is a Russian actor most commonly accredited for his performance as the mysterious father of two boys in 2003 film Vozvrashcheniye...
and Maria Bonnevie
Maria Bonnevie
Anna Maria Cecilia Bonnevie is a Norwegian-Swedish actress. She was born in Västerås, Sweden, but she grew up in Oslo, Norway. Her parents, both actors, are the Norwegian actress Jannik Bonnevie and Swedish actor Per Waldvik...
.
The film premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
and was nominated for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
. Lavronenko won the Best Actor award at the festival. It was released in Russian cinemas on 2 October 2007. The film received mix reviews from critics.
Plot
Alex (Konstantin LavronenkoKonstantin Lavronenko
Konstantin Nikolaevich Lavronenko is a Russian actor most commonly accredited for his performance as the mysterious father of two boys in 2003 film Vozvrashcheniye...
) brings his wife Vera (Maria Bonnevie
Maria Bonnevie
Anna Maria Cecilia Bonnevie is a Norwegian-Swedish actress. She was born in Västerås, Sweden, but she grew up in Oslo, Norway. Her parents, both actors, are the Norwegian actress Jannik Bonnevie and Swedish actor Per Waldvik...
) and two children for a trip to his childhood home in the countryside. The tranquillity of the countryside is broken when Vera tells Alex that she is pregnant and that the baby is not his. The rift between the couple grows but the two try to keep up appearances in the presence of their children and the old friends that visit them.
Alex is unsure about what to do and turns to his brother Mark (Aleksandr Baluyev) for advice. On the way to meet Mark at the train station, Alex's son Kir (Maksim Shibayev) reveals that Alex's friend Robert (Dmitri Ulyanov) was at their house one day while Alex was away for work. Alex concludes that Robert is the baby's father.
Vera feels that they have become estranged and is afraid of what Kir will turn into due to the criminal nature of Alex and his brother's work. In the film's opening scene, Mark comes to Alex's house for help removing a bullet from his arm.
In the end, Alex makes the decision to have an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
. While the children are at a friend's house, he gets Mark to find a doctor to perform the procedure. The abortion goes wrong and Vera dies. Alex and Mark rush the funeral formalities as gossip spreads quickly in the countryside. After returning home from the funeral parlour, Mark has a serious heart attack. Against the advice of the doctor, he attends Vera's funeral but dies before he and his brother return home.
Alex returns to the city alone and goes to Robert's house with the intention of killing him. Alex falls asleep in his car outside the house and is awoken by Robert who invites him in. As he retrieves the gun from the glove box, he discovers an envelope containing the results of Vera's pregnancy test and a letter written by Vera on the back. The film cuts to a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
of the time Robert came to Alex's home while he was away. It is revealed that the day before, Vera attempted to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by overdosing on pills but is saved by Robert. The next day, Vera finds out she is pregnant and confides with Robert, revealing that she never had an affair and that the baby was in fact Alex's, even though she says it felt like it wasn't his.
Cast
- Konstantin LavronenkoKonstantin LavronenkoKonstantin Nikolaevich Lavronenko is a Russian actor most commonly accredited for his performance as the mysterious father of two boys in 2003 film Vozvrashcheniye...
as Alex - Maria BonnevieMaria BonnevieAnna Maria Cecilia Bonnevie is a Norwegian-Swedish actress. She was born in Västerås, Sweden, but she grew up in Oslo, Norway. Her parents, both actors, are the Norwegian actress Jannik Bonnevie and Swedish actor Per Waldvik...
as Vera, Alex's wife - Maksim Shibayev as Kir, Alex's son
- Katya Kulkina as Eva, Alex's daughter
- Aleksandr Baluyev as Mark, Alex's brother
- Dmitri Ulyanov as Robert, Alex's friend and co-worker
Production
Director Andrey Zvyagintsev said the project took him nearly three years to complete, starting from when he first thought about the plot. The film's screenplay was presented to Zvyagintsev by Artyom Melkumian, an Armenian friend of his who worked as a television cameraman. Melkumian loved William SaroyanWilliam Saroyan
William Saroyan was an Armenian American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.-Early years:...
's The Laughing Matter and spent ten years adapting the novel. Originally, the script had a lot of dialogue but Zvyagintsev said that when he started testing it with actors "it was a disaster" and had to remorselessly cut the dialogue. "The long dialogue would be impossible to film in a satisfying way. It would be very difficult for the actors to hold the viewers' attention for that long," said Zvyagintsev.
Zvyagintsev said "The entire success of the film depends on the cast. So I spend a long time finding exactly the right people. I always have an image of a particular character in mind, and then audition many actors and keep comparing the essence of the character with the essence of the people I meet. When the virtual and the real characters almost coincide, I know I've found my actor." Zvyagintsev tried to avoid casting Konstantin Lavronenko
Konstantin Lavronenko
Konstantin Nikolaevich Lavronenko is a Russian actor most commonly accredited for his performance as the mysterious father of two boys in 2003 film Vozvrashcheniye...
who played a lead role in his previous film, The Return, but said "In the end I couldn't find anyone else who could be his equal." Zvyagintsev postponed filming and waited twelve months for actress Maria Bonnevie
Maria Bonnevie
Anna Maria Cecilia Bonnevie is a Norwegian-Swedish actress. She was born in Västerås, Sweden, but she grew up in Oslo, Norway. Her parents, both actors, are the Norwegian actress Jannik Bonnevie and Swedish actor Per Waldvik...
who had a year-long contract with the Royal Dramatic Theatre
Royal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
The film had 103 shooting days in four different countries—France, Belgium, Moldova and Russia. The city scenes were filmed in Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
, an industrial city in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. The house, the train station, the church, the cemetery and the wooden bridge next to the house were purposefully built on location near Cahul
Cahul
-Demographics:According to the last Moldovan census from 2004 there were 35,488 people living within the city of Cahul and 1,317 people within Cotihana....
, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
. A shot involving a donkey which only lasts several seconds on screen took the crew half a day to film and used three cans of film. Zvyagintsev joked, "Now I say will never work with animals again." Zvyagintsev intentionally removed cultural references to the time and setting of the film. Special attention was paid to architecture, signs and the vehicles. Finnish bank notes were altered to make them look more abstract and a French sign was digitally removed in post-production.
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Based on 16 reviews collected by Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, The Banishment has an overall approval rating from critics of 56%, with an average score of 5/10. David Gritten of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
called the film "a mythic masterpiece" and that "The Banishment confirms Zvyagintsev as a director of world stature." Film critic Patrick Z. McGavin said "the movie requires extraordinary patience, and those inclined to surrender to the film's heavy mood and elusive rhythm are bound to experience a significant revelation." The film's narrative has been described as "frustrating" and "suffers from structural problems." Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
said "the film's dramatic narrative twist is clumsily rendered. Intended to disorientate, it comes over as contrived." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he was President of Footlights.Bradshaw is a film critic for The Guardian...
criticized the film's open-ended nature and how it left questions unanswered saying, "there is an outstanding film somewhere inside this sprawling mass of ideas, which might have been shaped more exactingly in the edit."
The cinematography by Mikhail Krichman received great praise from most critics. Its slow pace and long running time divided critics, having been described as "at times a painfully slow film" and "it slips gently by, holding the attention in an iron grip." Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Dr Anton Bitel is a film critic, and an occasional tutor in Classics at the University of Oxford.Born in Australia, Anton obtained a Master's degree and Doctorate from the University of Oxford...
said "the viewer's patience is rewarded with exquisite painterly images, some unexpectedly rapid developments and a truly bleak vision of human error and its consequences."
The film drew frequent comparisons to the works of Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
, as well as visually referencing Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
, Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson
-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
, and Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
. Birgit Beumers of KinoKultura criticized this aspect of the film, stating "these quotations are obtrusive and too obvious" while Neil Young's Film Lounge concurred, stating "Zvyagintsev has ended up merely aping the cinematic giants who have come before him." Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
s David Parkinson said the film "feels more like a ciné dissertation designed to showcase Zvyagintsev's appreciation of the medium than an original piece of cinema."
Konstantin Lavronenko won the Best Actor award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
for his performance in the film.
External links
- The Banishment at Sight & SoundSight & SoundSight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...