Film Festivals

Inside the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Day 10: 21 Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Elena

Published on May 21, 2011

Saving the best for last, it was nice to watch a world premiere for a film that had already won an award (the jury, who had seen the film before handing out the night’s prizes hit the bulls-eye with Andrei Zvyagintsev’s third feature (the award-winning 2003’s The Return and 2007’s The Banishment). A complex character study with a slow burn desperation, Elena is one about the civilized war between classes expertly detailed by the film’s lead. If this would have been a Main Comp entry, the Best actress award race between Tilda Swinton, Elena Anaya and Kirsten Dunst would have also included, Nadezhda Markina. Here’s the premiere night presentation and standing O.

Related Topics:Andrey Zvyagintsev, Cannes 2011, Elena, Un Certain Regard

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).