Elena is a Russian film in the spotlight category at Sundance. I have two good things to say about this movie: I loved the music by Philip Glass and it is beautifully shot. Other than that I would not recommend the film…I spent most of it waiting for something to happen.
Elena is an older woman, who is married to Vladimir—a wealthy retired man. They live in a lovely apartment somewhere in Russia and their life is good. Elena uses her pension to support her good for nothing son and his family (wife and two kids). Her son is out of work and lives in some sort of government housing. Vladimir’s daughter has also never worked a day in her life, but she was raised with a silver spoon.
(Spoiler Alert) Elena’s son needs money to bribe the university to accept his son in so that he won’t be drafted into the army. Elena asks Vladimir for the money and he says “no.” Fortuitously Vladimir has a heart attack and before he can invite his attorney over to draft a will that would leave most of his money to his daughter, Elena gives him a dangerous drug cocktail and he dies. With no will, Elena and Vladimir’s daughter split his fortune and Elena moves her son’s family into her lovely home. She gets away with murder.
That is about it. In the end, I did not care about any of the characters and felt completely let down that the event the music led me to anticipate never happened. Grade C.
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