2007
Drama

Director
Andrei Zvyagintev

Starring
Konstantin Lavronenko, Alexander Baluyev, Maxim Shibayev, Maria Boonevie, Ekaterina Kulkina

Duration
155 minutes

Awards
Best Actor, Konstantin Lavronenko
(2007 Cannes Film Festival)

Best Film
(Russian Federation Film Club Award at the Moscow International Film Festival 2007)

Golden Palm Nomination
(2007 Cannes Film Festival)

Facts
The Banishment is a follow up feature to Zvyagintev’s multi award winning and devastating film, The Return

Loosely based on The Laughing Matter, a William Saroyan story

The Banishment is the outstanding follow up to Zvyagintev’s internationally acclaimed debut The Return (2003).

The Banishment reveals a family in crisis. Alex (Konstantin Lavronenko, who memorably played the father in The Return) has brought his beautiful wife Vera and their two young children from their city home to visit his father's old house in the remote countryside. The film is set irrevocably in motion when Vera reveals she is pregnant, but not to her husband. What follows is a breathtaking study of isolation, betrayal and revenge, confirming Zvyagintsev as a director of world stature.

The Banishment is a visually spectacular film that reflects the mythic, almost biblical force of storytelling that this multi award winning director has become renowned for.

Return to movies