Overview
A woman's quiet life is shattered when her husband's wealth becomes a threat to her family's future.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- austere
- foreboding
- paranoid
- serious film night
- arthouse cinema evening
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a precisely constructed and vividly observed portrait of contemporary Moscow, where class division, greed, and blood ties erode moral responsibility.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The wealthy Vladimir, modest Elena, and their economically divided families embody an explicitly observed Moscow class structure.
Elena's desire to secure money for Sergey and her grandchildren transforms kinship into pressure for a dangerous plan.
Marital conversations, hospital recovery, television watching, medication, and household routines steadily acquire threatening significance.
Vladimir's heart attack, pills, swimming-pool imagery, candles, and other domestic rituals connect physical decline with the film's fatalistic atmosphere.
Films like Elena, and why
The Housemaid
Shared class conflict, domestic power struggles, moral ambiguity, and incisive social observation.
La cérémonie
Shared bourgeois family tension, corrosive greed, and coolly controlled thriller construction.
Leviathan
Shared Russian social realism, bleak family dynamics, and institutional moral decay.
Parasite
Shared domestic suspense, class resentment, and quietly escalating criminal tension.
Movie Details
- Director
- Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Release Date
- 2011-06-06
- Runtime
- 110 min
- Rating
- 7.2 / 10 (291)
Cast
- Nadezhda Markina
- Aleksey Rozin
- Andrey Smirnov
- Elena Lyadova
- Yaroslav Zhalnin
- Alexei Maslodudov
- Yura Borisov
- Ivan Mulin
- Oksana Semenova
- Igor Ogurtsov
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Klassiki
- Rent
- Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Elena about?
- A submissive Moscow wife turns inheritance, class resentment, and family obligation into a coldly unfolding domestic crime thriller.
- What is Elena like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Elena as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Elena violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Elena as moderate.
- What did critics think of Elena?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a precisely constructed and vividly observed portrait of contemporary Moscow, where class division, greed, and blood ties erode moral responsibility.
- Which films are like Elena?
- Films with a similar feel include The Housemaid, La cérémonie, Leviathan, and Parasite.
- How long is Elena?
- Elena runs 110 minutes.
- Where can I watch Elena?
- In United States, Elena streams on Klassiki.
