The Banishment
A remote family retreat becomes an austere moral reckoning when a husband's faith in his marriage collapses.
Overview
A haunting tale of betrayal and moral conflict unfolds in the quiet countryside.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- bleak
- contemplative
- oppressive
- quiet evening
- serious film night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film's exquisite cinematography and ambitious spiritual family drama while finding its slow pace, structural contrivances, and open-ended narrative frustrating.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Alex's response to Vera's pregnancy confession turns intimate betrayal into a conflict between revenge and forgiveness.
Mikhail Krichman's cinematography emphasizes austere countryside locations, controlled color, and tableau-like imagery.
The story's structural gaps, dramatic revelation, and unanswered questions make its ethical consequences deliberately unresolved.
Religious imagery and themes of despair, belonging, parenting, and forgiveness frame the family's breakdown.
Films like The Banishment, and why
The Return
shared austere family drama, spiritual anguish, rural isolation, and painterly long-form visual storytelling
Scenes from a Marriage
shared marital alienation, bleak moral conflict, elliptical narrative, and Bergmanesque psychological intensity
Nostalghia
shared slow cinema pacing, religious symbolism, domestic despair, and visually composed landscapes
Loveless
shared fractured family relationships, emotional estrangement, and contemplative Russian arthouse realism
Movie Details
- Director
- Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Release Date
- 2008-03-27
- Runtime
- 158 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (181)
Cast
- Konstantin Lavronenko
- Aleksandr Baluev
- Maria Bonnevie
- Dmitri Ulyanov
- Vitaly Kishchenko
- Maksim Shibayev
- Aleksey Vertkov
- Igor Sergeev
- Yekaterina Kulkina
- Ira Gonto
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Banishment about?
- A remote family retreat becomes an austere moral reckoning when a husband's faith in his marriage collapses.
- What is The Banishment like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Banishment as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Banishment violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Banishment as mild.
- What did critics think of The Banishment?
- Critics broadly praised the film's exquisite cinematography and ambitious spiritual family drama while finding its slow pace, structural contrivances, and open-ended narrative frustrating.
- Which films are like The Banishment?
- Films with a similar feel include The Return, Scenes from a Marriage, Nostalghia, and Loveless.
- How long is The Banishment?
- The Banishment runs 158 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Banishment?
- In United States, The Banishment is available to rent or buy from Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
