MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. Russian film director Andrei Zvyagintsev's movie "Leviathan," which has been nominated for the Academy Awards best foreign-language film, is coming to theatres on Thursday.
Representatives of the film’s producers told TASS, ‘Leviathan" will be shown in almost 450 theatres in all Russian biggest cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Vladivostok, Samara, Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don and others. Several days ahead of its release pirated copy of the film was available in the internet. However, the film’s producer, Alexander Rodyansky, said he did not think it might impact the film’s distribution.
"When we learnt that the film was available on the web, and it was ahead of the Golden Globe, Andrei /Zvyagintsev - TASS/ was infuriated," Rodyansky said earlier. "Four days later, it became absolutely clear that the film, which had polarized society, was living its own life."
"I have a feeling the film has reached the very heart, exactly what we wanted," Zvyagintsev noted, adding he had heard polar opinions about his film. "The reaction of the audience proves the film is timely," he said. "Society, the country are split over this film, which evidences we have struck home." Zvyagintsev said up to four million had already seen the film.
World premiere of the film took place at Cannes where it received a prize for the best story. On January 11, ‘Leviathan’ received a Golden Globe as the best foreign language film. In Russia, it will be released in a redubbed version omitting obscenities.
‘Leviathan’ is an offbeat interpretation of the Biblical story of Job placed into the context of the Russia of nowadays and simultaneously an allusion to the work by Thomas Hobbs.
The protagonist of the story, Nikolai /played by Alexei Serebryakov/ and his wife Lilia /Yelena Lyadova/ live in a small northern town where he has a car repair shop. When the town’s mayor tries to pull down his house and to confiscate property, Nikolai turns for assistance to his longtime friend Dmitry Seleznyov /Vladimir Vdovichenkov/, who is a lawyer and who bumps into the freewheeling actions of officials and representatives of the Orthodox Church when he comes to his friend’s rescue.