LOVELESS Trailer

Andrey Zvyagintsev, who brought us 2014’s Leviathan, continues to dissect Russian culture with little regard for optimism in Loveless.

In case you couldn’t tell from the title, this isn’t a story about puppies and rainbows. There’s an unhappy couple in the midst of a divorce with a son stuck between them. That is, until the boy disappears and the couple must face the agonizing situation together.

Given Zvyagintsev’s track record, he and co-writer Oleg Negin probably won’t go easy on the parents, who are shown in the trailer berating each other in front of their son before he vanishes. The family will be a microcosm of larger issues in Russian society, and that scope gives them the leeway to judge and dole out punishment for the couple’s faults.

Leviathan had a similar harshness, and while that film lifted Zvyagintsev’s international acclaim, it made working in his home country more difficult. According to the director, the Russian Ministry of Culture was quite unhappy with that film, and he intentionally made Loveless without any state involvement.

Not that he had much choice given Russia’s moves to restrict films critical of the nation, which were proposed as Leviathan was racking up awards and nominations from the international film community. Luckily he’s still able to get his films made and distributed at home and abroad, so we all have the chance to see another of his distinctly critical films.

Loveless is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and stars Maryana Spivak and Aleksey Rozin. It will be released in the U.K. on February 9th, 2018 and in the U.S. on February 16th, 2018. For international release dates, click here.

Are you interested in seeing Loveless? Let us know in the comments!

Read our review of Loveless here.