Film

Loosely adapted from William Saroyan's story Laughing Matter, The Banishment unveils languorously as a father with a shady past takes his wife and two children from their urban home and embarks on a trip to his childhood home in the Russian countryside. When his wife reveals that she is pregnant and that the baby belongs to someone else, he faces a moral dilemma verbalized by his criminal brother in starkly plain words: "If you want to kill, kill. If you want to forgive, forgive." Confirming Zvyagintsev "as a director of world stature" (Daily Telegraph), his sublimely shot second feature was nominated for the Palme d'Or and netted the Cannes Best Actor prize for Lavronenko.