What a great movie. Well written, excellent dialogue, superb acting complimented by assured directing. It's like 'The Third Man' in reverse. In 'The Third Man' the main character only appears towards the end of the film. In 'Loveless' the boy (Alyosha) only appears for a few minutes, mostly at the start. In both films, the third man and Alyosha are the stars by virtue of their absence. The director is right when he said the whole of the film rests on Alyosha's distress at the start.
Belonging to the newly created Russian middle class, the casual mental cruelty of both parents, the vacuity of their self-absorption and the lack of demonstrative love or affection can clearly be seen in Alyosha's face in his photographs. The malicious, poisonous, point scoring barbs of vitriol his parents exchange one evening, has a special horror because Alyosha overhears them.
The rest of the film is a controlled and slow unravelling of the pretentions and stories people tell themselves to justify their behaviour. Zhenya, Alyosha's mother complains about her own mother, but is clearly worse than her. I could particularly relate to Alyosha and that is why a part of me didn't want him to be found, because there was never going to be a happy ending with his awful parents. Alyosha's actions, however desperate, meant he was able to take control of what happened next.
Belonging to the newly created Russian middle class, the casual mental cruelty of both parents, the vacuity of their self-absorption and the lack of demonstrative love or affection can clearly be seen in Alyosha's face in his photographs. The malicious, poisonous, point scoring barbs of vitriol his parents exchange one evening, has a special horror because Alyosha overhears them.
The rest of the film is a controlled and slow unravelling of the pretentions and stories people tell themselves to justify their behaviour. Zhenya, Alyosha's mother complains about her own mother, but is clearly worse than her. I could particularly relate to Alyosha and that is why a part of me didn't want him to be found, because there was never going to be a happy ending with his awful parents. Alyosha's actions, however desperate, meant he was able to take control of what happened next.