It starts wintry and only gets colder, darker and icier in this spooky, artful and obliquely political film from Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev ('Elena', 'The Return'). What begins as a stark study of the breakdown of a marriage in a small Russian city expands into a more languid, mysterious drama about disconnected lives and failed responsibilities, centred around a missing child whose disappearance haunts the film. 'Loveless' doesn't have the same epic scope as Zvyagintsev's last film, 2014's Oscar-nominated 'Leviathan': this is quieter and more ruminative, closer to 'Elena' in scale. But it's graced with unsettling power and ghostly, searching camerawork that's compelling even when the story occasionally lags or drifts. Boris (Alexey Rozin) and Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) share a flat with their 12-year-old son Alyosha (Matvey Novikov), but they're living separate lives and are on the cusp of divorce. He's already hooked up with another woman, Masha (Marina Vasilyeva), who's also seeing wealthy Anton (Andris Keishs). Between these romances and Boris's dull office job, there's little time for Aloysha, who we barely see – though a devastating cut to him crying in a bathroom while his parents scream at each other tells us everything we need to know. In the film's strongest stretch, Zvyagintsev cuts between husband and wife separately in bed with their new partners in the shadowy winter light. The film takes a different turn when Alyosha goes missing: police and search part
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