Synopsis

Twelve years has it been since their father left. Andrei and Ivan were brought up by their mother and grandmother and know him only from a single faded photography. And suddenly he’s back. Without explanation, just like that. The next morning the father takes the boys with his car on a fishing trip in the Northern Russian lake scenery. While Andrei tries hard to impress his long lost dad, his younger brother stays sceptical. However, it doesn’t take long until the brothers get to feel the estranged man’s ruthless brutality. The Return, “a mysterious, almost mystical film” (Die Zeit), was selected as the best Russian theatrical production of the past 25 years by leading film critics from all around the world last year within the frame of the LET’S CEE series 25-The Retrospective. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s visually stunning first major work, primarily filmed with amateur actors and allegedly with a budget of only about one hundred thousand dollars, was – as a matter of course – virtually buried under the weight of praise right from the beginning and rewarded with numerous prizes, such as the Golden Lion in Venice or the European Film Award. Unfortunately, Vladimir Garin, starring Andrei, was not able to witness the run of success since he drowned shortly after the film’s completion in the same lake where the film was shot at.