2014 Russian film
Leviathan (Russian: Левиафан) is a 2014 Russian drama film directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, co-written by Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin, and starring Aleksei Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, and Vladimir Vdovichenkov. A modern reworking of the Book of Job, the film is set on a peninsula by the Barents Sea and tells the story of a man who struggles against a corrupt mayor who wants his piece of land. The producer Alexander Rodnyansky has said: "It deals with some of the most important social issues of contemporary Russia while never becoming an artist's sermon or a public statement, it is a story of love and tragedy experienced by ordinary people".[5]
The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[6] Zvyagintsev and Negin won the award for Best Screenplay.[7]
Production
When Andrey Zvyagintsev produced a short film in the United States, he was told the story of Marvin Heemeyer.[8] The screenplay was written by Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin and is loosely based on the Book of Job and Heinrich von Kleist's novella Michael Kohlhaas. The script features more than fifteen characters, which is unusually many for a film by Zvyagintsev.
Principal photography took place in the town of Kirovsk, near Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula. Preparations on the set began in May 2013. Principal photography took place during three months from August to October the same year.[9]
Release
Leviathan premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened on 23 May. It will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics in the United States, Curzon Cinemas in the United Kingdom and by Palace Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.[5]
Because of anti-swearing laws the film (as of August 2014) did not obtain a screening permit in Russia.[10]
Critical reception
Peter Bradshaw, writing a full five-star review for The Guardian, gave the film huge praise. Bradshaw thought that the film was "acted and directed with unflinching ambition" and described the film as "a forbidding and intimidating piece of work... a movie with real grandeur".[11]
In the United States, The Hollywood Reporter's critic Leslie Felperin was taken by surprise by the fact that a film critical of corruption in Vladimir Putin's Russia was granted support from the Russian Ministry of Culture.[12]
On Metacritic, based on seven reviews, Leviathan holds an average score of 99 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim".[13]
Accolades
On 28 September 2014, it was announced that Leviathan would be Russia's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.[14][15][16]
The film was named the Best Film at the London Film Festival Awards on 18 October 2014, at a ceremony where the main prizes went to Russia, Ukraine and Syria, three countries at the centre of long-running conflicts. The winning film-makers all said they hoped that culture could help to restore peace to their countries.[17]
