Superb cinematography, so there's that. You can almost smell the family holiday atmosphere. Two-and-a-half hours of a couple who take their children to visit relatives in the country; except there's something else, something life-changing going on between them. Be advised that an hour and six minutes in, there's a scene of sheep running across a hillside. If you're knocking back a Baltika or three, you may drift off at this point.
But when things start happening, they happen fast - I don't mean gangster action, I mean that you start to realise, at the 90-minute point, that it's all been leading up to the various revelations that happen. You want spoilers?
Ok then, it's quite simple. A woman who feels unloved after so many years of marriage falls pregnant again, but rather than carry on living just as an extension of him, tells her husband it's someone else's baby, knowing that he will expect her to 'get rid' of it. That's only the start.
You should also be aware that at the 2:06 point, this film dissolves smoothly into flashback, which explains the above spoiler, then smoothly dissolves out again. If you miss it, you may wonder why the wife - well, leave it at that.
A beautiful, absorbing drama that takes its time and has a great payoff. Don't worry too much about pausing it to go to the bathroom or make tea for the first ninety minutes. Then pay attention. This movie also has the best rain, real or fake, of any movie ever made.
But when things start happening, they happen fast - I don't mean gangster action, I mean that you start to realise, at the 90-minute point, that it's all been leading up to the various revelations that happen. You want spoilers?
Ok then, it's quite simple. A woman who feels unloved after so many years of marriage falls pregnant again, but rather than carry on living just as an extension of him, tells her husband it's someone else's baby, knowing that he will expect her to 'get rid' of it. That's only the start.
You should also be aware that at the 2:06 point, this film dissolves smoothly into flashback, which explains the above spoiler, then smoothly dissolves out again. If you miss it, you may wonder why the wife - well, leave it at that.
A beautiful, absorbing drama that takes its time and has a great payoff. Don't worry too much about pausing it to go to the bathroom or make tea for the first ninety minutes. Then pay attention. This movie also has the best rain, real or fake, of any movie ever made.