East-West Movie Review 1999

In 1946, Stalin offered amnesty to any Russians who left the country after the 1917 revolution. But he executed or imprisoned many of the homesick expatriates and others found their gray motherland hard to bear (and impossible to leave). Russian doctor Alexei Golovin (Menshikov) bows to circumstances while his marriage to French wife Marie (Bonnaire) becomes increasingly strained. Marie befriends a champion swimmer, Sasha (Bodrov), with the hopes that they can both escape but things don't go as planned. Old-fashioned storytelling hampers the drama and the story (which leaps ahead months and years) becomes confused. French and Russian with subtitles.

Distribution

Sony Pictures Home Video, Sony Pictures Plz., 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232, Phone: (310)244-7306, Fax: (310)280-2485, URL: http://www.spe.sony.com, Remarks: Formerly Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 125 minutes.
Originally from French.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Period Piece: 1940s, Russia/USSR, True Stories, Marriage, Women in Prison

Screenplay

Regis Wargnier, Sergei Bodrov, Rustam Ibragimbekov, Louis Gardel

Cast

Sandrine Bonnaire, Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov, Catherine Deneuve, Tatiana Dogileva

Cinematography

Laurent Dailland

Director

Regis Wargnier

Music

Patrick Doyle