In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.
Cinematography
Those desolate coastal landscapes hurt my soul.
Direction
Zvyagintsev makes suffering look almost beautiful.
Acting
Roman Madyanov's mayor deserves every award.
Director
Andrey Zvyagintsev
Aleksey Serebryakov
Nikolay Sergeev
Elena Lyadova
Liliya Sergeeva
Vladimir Vdovichenkov
Dmitriy Seleznyov
Roman Madyanov
Vadim Shelevyat
Anna Ukolova
Anzhela Polivanova
Aleksey Rozin
Pasha
Sergey Pokhodaev
Roma
Sergey Bachurskiy
Stepanych
Valeriy Grishko
bishop
Alla Emintseva
judge
Margarita Shubina
prosecutor
Dmitriy Bykovskiy-Romashov
police chief
Sergey Borisov
operative
Igor Savochkin
investigator
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The original story was based on US citizen Marvin Heemeyer's 2004 bulldozer rampage, but Zvyagintsev transposed it to Russia and stripped away the cathartic violence for something far more hopeless.
The film's title and biblical epigraphs frame the state as Leviathan itself—the monstrous power that crushes individual lives while claiming divine right.
RU
