Est – Ouest (1999)

Est – Ouest is a French romantic film drama first released in 1999, directed by Régis Wargnier.  The film stars Sandrine Bonnaire, Oleg Menshikov, Catherine Deneuve, Sergei Bodrov Jr. and Grigori Manukov.  It has also been released under the title: East-West.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


1946.  Following an amnesty from Communist leader Stalin, a physician Alexeï returns to his native Russia after a period of exile in France.  He brings with him his wife Marie and young son Seryozha.  No sooner has their shipped docked in the port of Odessa than they realise they have fallen into a trap.  Their fellow returnees are imprisoned or executed for alleged espionage, and they are spared only because Alexeï is of value to the Soviet State.  The young family are sent to Kiev, to live in a dingy flat and work in a state-run factory.  Marie, afraid that their lives are in danger, tries to convince Alexeï that they must return to France.   However, escape looks increasingly unlikely...

A powerful portrayal of love, heroism and tyranny, Est-Ouest makes a striking contrast to Régis Wargnier previous epic film, Indochine .  With its bold, epic feel, relentlessly leaden cinematography and convincing performances, Est-Ouest is a compelling work made with great skill, confidence and humanity.  The mood of oppression and pessimism which runs through the film is so potent, so tangible, that the spectator is easily engaged and ultimately overwhelmed by this shocking story of human desperation.   Towards the end of the film, you feel so involved with the main characters that the experience of watching the film is at least partly as harrowing as if you were living out the drama for real.  The film is two hours long, but it is so absorbing, explores so many aspects of human experience, has so much to tell us, that the time passes quickly -  and you hardly even notice the dialogue switching constantly back and forth between French and Russian.

Sandrine Bonnaire’s restrained yet intense performance is one of the main reasons for the film’s great impact.  Bonnaire has a reputation for playing strong female leads with great conviction and sensibility, and her role in Est-Ouest is perfectly suited to her subtle yet forceful approach to acting.   She works well with her co-stars, who include Oleg Menshikov and Sergei Bodrov Jr (the latter of whom died tragically in a mountain avalanche three years after making this film, aged 30).  Catherine Deneuve also turns in a nice performance in her smaller role, bringing a touch of gravitas and class, just where it is needed.  Deneuve’s character is crucial to the plot, providing the one lifeline for Marie and her family to escape from their Soviet Hell, and consequently the one thing the audience has to cling on to for that elusive happy ending.

Despite being nominated for an Oscar and the best film César, Est-Ouest met with a mixed response from the critics when it was released.  Much of the criticism was possibly unfair, based on a certain ill-judged antipathy towards Régis Wargnier’s previous films.   There is no question that Est-Ouest is a totally absorbing work, which offers a chilling and accurate portrayal of life under Stalin after the Second World War.  It can be argued that there are niggling faults in the plot and that there is perhaps too great an emphasis on conventional melodrama.  However, if the film is judged by its ability to tell a deeply moving story with compassion and eloquence, leaving a lasting impression on its spectator, Est-Ouest should be considered a fine piece of cinema, possibly one of the most evocative and memorable French films of the 1990s.

© James Travers 2002

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