The Banishment

Izgnanie
a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev

The story takes place in an unspecified time and country, set partly in an old, neglected and isolated rural house, and partly in an austere, heavily industrialised city. Alex and Mark are two brothers sharing a mutual respect and understanding, even if there seems no outward expression of affection between them. They appear also to share a background with a sense of criminality. When Mark arrives at Alex's house in the middle of the night after being shot, and refusing to see a doctor, Alex agrees to remove the bullet from his arm, asking no questions.

Alex and his wife Vera then leave the city with their children to spend a few weeks in the remote but seemingly idyllic country house belonging to his late father, where he and Mark spent their childhood. But the tranquillity is broken one day when Vera makes the shocking confession that she is pregnant and that the child is not his. Alex is completely stunned and withdraws into himself. Unable to communicate with Vera, despite her attempts at an explanation, he refuses to listen. He insists that they keep up appearances for the sake of the children, but when their friends visit one day with their family, it becomes clear to them that something is deeply wrong.

Alex's son Kir reveals that his father's friend Robert was at their house one day while he was away for two months working, and Alex concludes that Robert is the baby's father. At a complete loss as to what he should do, Alex turns to his brother Mark for help. Mark's own marriage ended years before and he has since overcome the loss of his children by simply pretending they do not exist. Mark tells Alex that whatever his decision is, it will be right, and Alex finally decides that Vera's pregnancy must be terminated. Mark gives Alex some money and also tells him about a gun he left behind in a drawer of the dresser in the house.

When Alex eventually begins to speak to Vera, it is to inform her of his decision, offering her no choice or possibility of further discussion. He tells her that once it is done their lives can return to normal. While Vera is shocked by his callous and selfish approach, she accepts his decision. Alex believes that the moral responsibility rests with him, giving him the authority to make such a decision alone. But having done so, he then withdraws into an even greater isolation from the immediate situation, leaving all the practical arrangements to Mark.

The children are invited to stay overnight with the family friends. Mark finds two abortionists who come to the house where they perform the operation and leave Vera resting in bed. But beginning to have serious doubts about what he has done, Alex then becomes worried about Vera. Mark at first tries to reassure him that she will be fine, until he realises that she has fallen into a coma, when he calls a doctor friend for assistance. After examining her the doctor tells Mark that Vera is dead. When Alex realises what has happened he is filled with remorse, seeing the tragic outcome of his action over the pregnancy, which already seems insignificant compared with the loss he now faces.

Mark quickly makes the arrangements for Vera's funeral so that the abortion can be covered up to avoid any incriminations or local gossip. But after their return to the house he suffers a heart attack and is forbidden by the doctor to leave his bed. The doctor then tells Mark that Vera had died not as a result of the abortion but from a massive dose of opiates she had taken intentionally to kill herself and he gives Mark a letter she had written on the back of a pregnancy test result. Mark reads the letter but decides to keep this revelation from Alex.

Despite the doctor's warning, Mark attends Vera's funeral but as a result, dies on the journey home from the church. Alex returns alone to the city, taking with him the gun from the dresser. He drives to Robert's house intending to kill him, but finding no one at home, falls asleep in the car until Robert returns when he invites Alex indoors. As Alex retrieves the gun from the glove box of the car, he discovers the envelope, placed there by Mark, containing the results of Vera's pregnancy test with her letter written on the back.

The film then cuts seamlessly to a flashback of the time Robert came to Alex's home while he was away working. It is revealed that the day before, Vera had attempted to commit suicide by overdosing but had been saved by Robert. The following day, Vera received the letter confirming her pregnancy and had confided this to Robert, also revealing that she had not had an affair with him and that the baby was in fact Alex's. Vera had tried to explain to Robert how Alex only loved her and the children for himself, like possessions. She was scared that if it were to continue that way, everything would die, and she did not want to give birth to the dying. Alex is left with this knowledge and that Vera had chosen instead to take her own life.

Exploring the isolation of individuals and the tragic consequences of their failure to make emotional contact, the tale is a stark, grave allegory of masculine pride, morality and betrayal. Biblical references abound, but with a greater significance and poignancy than we are perhaps aware of initially – as with the child's bedtime reading from I Corinthians 13, whilst Vera is dying alone, unable to endure a life in which love and hope are entirely absent. The cinematography is outstanding, with a stunning use of colour and texture, every shot lit and framed to breathtaking perfection. The almost predatory camera continually moves and pans, following the characters' every thought, exposing their deepest secrets. The hauntingly powerful soundtrack, which includes the music of Andrey Dergatchev and Arvo Pärt, accentuates the film's sense of impending tragedy, drawing us ever deeper in our entrancement.