Vozvrashcheniye
Vozvrashcheniye film poster
Directed by	Andrey Zvyagintsev
Produced by	Yelena Kovalyova Dmitri Lesnevsky
Written by	Vladimir Moiseyenko Aleksandr Novototsky
Starring	Vladimir Garin Ivan Dobronravov Konstantin Lavronenko Natalia Vdovina
Music by	Andrei Dergatchev
Distributed by	Kino International (US)
Release date	25 June 2003
Running time	105 min
Language	Russian
IMDb profile

Vozvrashcheniye (Russian: Возвращение), also known as The Return, is an acclaimed 2003 Russian film. The movie was released internationally in 2004. Download high resolution version (493x705, 41 KB)Vozvrashcheniye (The Return) movie poster. ... Andrey Zvyagintsev (Андрей Звягинцев) is a Russian actor and film-maker noted for his exceptionally successful debut in directing with award-winning drama The Return (2003). ... Vladimir Garin (26 January 1987 - 24 June 2003) was a Russian actor, and star of the critically acclaimed film Vozvrashcheniye (Russian: Возвращение), titled as The Return in the USA. He drowned in the same lake where a large portion of The Return was filmed, just before the films international debut. ... Kino International is a film and video distributor, based in New York City that specializes in art-house films, such as low-budget current films and classic films from earlier periods in the history of cinema. ... June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour and to 60 seconds. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Story overview

Two teenage Russian boys have their father return home suddenly after being absent for 12 years. The father takes the boys on a holiday to a remote island on a lake that turns into a test of manhood of almost mythic proportions.

Plot

In contemporary Russia, young brothers Ivan and Andrey have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. Both mother and grandmother live with them. Running home after a fighting with each other, the boys are shocked to discover their father has returned after a twelve year absence. With their mother's uneasy blessing, Ivan and Andrey set out on what they believe will be a fishing vacation with their taciturn father.

Though at first ecstatic to be reunited with the father they've only known from a faded photograph, the boys strain under the weight of their dad's awkward and increasingly brutal efforts to make up for a missing decade of parental supervision. Ivan and Andrey find themselves alternately tested, scolded, scrutinized and ignored by their father through a changing series of encounters and hardships.

As truck stops and cafés give way to rain-swept, primevally beautiful wilderness coastline, Ivan's doubts about his father give way to open defiance. Andrey's powerful need to bond with a father he's never known begins, in turn, to distance him from Ivan.

Ivan and his father's test of wills escalate into bitter hostility and sudden violence as the trio arrives at their mysterious island destination.

The dubious sanctuary of a rickety light tower, the desperate reassurance of a stolen knife, the cryptic allure of a rusting strong box and the fleeting safety of a hastily patched boat give evidence to the ultimately tragic conclusion of Ivan and Andrey's harrowing father and son journey and the heartbreakingly transitory nature of their reunion.

Symbolism

Some parts of the movie are not explained in detail as a way to leave open interpretations.

Political

• The father returns after 12 years, which is approximately the time interval between the fall of Communism in the former Soviet Union in 1991 and the production of the movie in 2003 (NOTE: This movie was produced in 2002).
• Ivan seems to represent the new Russia, wary and distrusting of the old system.
• Andrei seems to represent those torn between the two.
• The story might be that the father (the old system) has abandoned the sons (the people, the country) and in the end it is the father (the old system) that is buried so the sons (the people) can move on with their lives.

Alternatively, This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• If the father is to be seen as representing the government of Russia, then the government is to be seen to be involved in some very dubious activities, which may or may not be criminal (this is one of the ambiguities of the film -- what is in the box on the island).
• The sons must learn to work and fend for themselves to get off the island, and not merely for their own gain.

Religious

• The storyline is divided into seven chapters, each a different day, which resembles the biblical perspective of how the world is created; the movie's timeline begins on the christian Sabbath until the next six days of building the boys into men.
• The father returns on Sunday, which is the day Jesus returned to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday).
• The father's posture when he laid in bed, recalls Andrea Mantegna's painting "The Lamentation over the Dead Christ."
• An old family photo was found in a book beside an illustration of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.
• The reference of fish, a symbol of Christianity, is palpable in the movie.
• The reference of the Bible symbolising the diary kept by the boys.
• When the father has fallen from the tower, he lies on the ground with his arms spread that resembles a Cross.
• The father dies on Friday, which is the day The Christ died.
• The father's death suggests that the sacrifice is made to deliver his sons to adulthood, which is similar to The Christ's sacrifice to deliver mankind from sins.

This article concerns the Sabbath in Christianity. ... Jesus (8-2 BC/BCE — 29-36 AD/CE),[1] also known as Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of Christianity. ... Palm Sunday is a moveable feast in the church calendar observed by Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians. ... The Lamentation over the Dead Christ Tempera on canvas, 68x81 cm, 1490 Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. ... The Lamentation over the Dead Christ Tempera on canvas, 68x81 cm, c. ... Tomb of Abraham Abraham (ca. ... It has been suggested that Ishaq be merged into this article or section. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recounted in the Gospels. ... The Gutenberg Bible owned by the United States Library of Congress The Bible (Hebrew: תנ״ך tanakh, Greek: η Βίβλος hē biblos, the book) (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Work of God, The Word of God, The Word, The Good Book, Scripture, or The Scriptures), is the name used by Jews and Christians... The traditional form of the Christian cross, known as the Latin cross. ... SiN is a computer game developed by Ritual Entertainment and published by Activision in late 1998. ...

Main cast

• Andrey - Vladimir Garin
• Ivan (Vanya) - Ivan Dobronravov
• Father - Konstantin Lavronenko
• Mother - Natalia Vdovina

Vladimir Garin (26 January 1987 - 24 June 2003) was a Russian actor, and star of the critically acclaimed film Vozvrashcheniye (Russian: Возвращение), titled as The Return in the USA. He drowned in the same lake where a large portion of The Return was filmed, just before the films international debut. ...

Crew

• Directed by: Andrey Zvyagintsev
• Produced by: Dmitry Lesnevsky (Ren Films)
• Screenplay by: Vladimir Moiseenko and Alexander Novototsky
• Music by: Andrey Dergatchev

Andrey Zvyagintsev (Андрей Звягинцев) is a Russian actor and film-maker noted for his exceptionally successful debut in directing with award-winning drama The Return (2003). ...

Awards

The following items are some of the awards that the movie has won in 2003.

Venice Film Festival

• Winner, Golden Lion
• Winner, Best First Film

The Venice Film Festival (it: Mostra Internazionale dArte Cinematografica) is the oldest Film Festival in the World (began in the 1932) and takes place every year in late August/early September on the Lido di Venezia in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, in Venice, Italy. ...

European Film Awards

• Winner, European Discovery of the Year

The European Movie Awards are the most prestigious paneuropean movie awards. ...

Palm Springs International Film Festival

• Winner, Best Foreign Film

Golden Globe Award

• Nominee, Best Foreign Language Film Russia

The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ...

Trivia

• Vladimir Garin drowned shortly after the end of shooting in the same lake where several of the picture's scenes were filmed.
• Andrey Zvyagintsev's father disappeared from his life when he was 6.
• The budget of the film remains a secret, though in an interview the director and the producer hinted that it was well below $500,000. The director also mentioned that the producers made their money back even before it was screened at Venice Film Festival.
• Vozvrashcheniye was filmed on and around Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland.

Map of lake Ladoga Towpath Bridge between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (from a photograph taken ca. ... The Baltic Sea The Gulf of Finland is an arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to the city of Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

External links

• Full Download
• Official site
• Vozvrashcheniye at the Internet Movie Database