The Return

THE RETURN (MOVIE)
Kino International

Original release: June 25th, 2003
Running time: 105 minutes

Country of origin: Russia
Original language: Russian

Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Writers: Vladimir Moiseyenko, Aleksandr Novototsky

Cast: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalia Vdovina

After watching The Return, one of the most visually literate films of the past decade, a single thought preoccupied me: namely how the film was constructed through a coherent combination of narrative ambiguities with the precise portrayal of the characters’ emotional life.

Even though several critics have highlighted the psychological realism of the film, as a way of contrasting it with the works of Russian contemporaries such as Aleksandr Sukorov – and the narrative in The Return does comes full circle ‐
it is indeed the visual ambiguity at the heart of the story that makes it a compelling movie experience.

The story sets up the character of the two brothers in a rather classical fashion, depicting their plight and flaws in a manner that is easily recognizable. However, the sudden entry of the father, along with his mysterious and menacing presence, not only agitates the brothers but also creates a perceptual gap for us as the viewer: we do not have any information about the
nature of his absence, nor do we gain insight into the reason for his unannounced re‐emergence and his mission to the island.

Through his harsh and regimented treatment of the boys, the father alienates us even further since, as viewers, we are trained to occasionally build our understanding of the story based on the familial dynamics unfolding before our eyes.

However, Zvyagintsev and his writer Aleksandr Novototsky have imbued the course of the narrative with cues that seem to point to more ambivalent dimensions. Note the introduction of the father at the beginning of the film ‐ when the youngsters find him peacefully lying in his bed.

The serene, angelic face of the sleeping father recurs later in the movie when his dead body is transported back from the island on a ramshackle rowboat. The father’s appearance in the boys’ life is poetically associated with his departure through this impeccable visual association.

Also note the photograph the brothers recover under the visor after returning from the island. The picture almost duplicates another photograph that the younger brother kept in the attic, however this time the father is not in the picture. The slideshow that caps the movie depicts only two brothers during their trip, implying that the father is merely a memory from the past. Was the sudden emergence of the father a fantasy, a pure imagined fatherhood the brothers never got a chance to experience?

The ambiguous narrative extends to the title of the film, which not only refers to the father homecoming, but also to the boys return from the island with its symbolic and emotional significance for the viewer.

Images, especially cinematic images, have the power to imbue concrete narratives with a sense of mystery. It is the ambiguity of the script that is the strength of the movie (or any movie, for that matter), loading the story with feelings, allusions and thoughts that sticks with the viewer long after the end credits have crawled off the screen.

Pedram F Dahl

Pedram is a Canadian screenwriter and filmmaker based in Sweden who enjoys a broad range of films. He has his own website, lacabezadealfredo.com, where you can learn more about his work and he can also be found on twitter at @pedramfd.

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