Est-ouest

''East/West'' (french: Est-Ouest; russian: Восток-Запад, Vostok-Zapad) is a 1999 drama film directed by Régis Wargnier, starring Sandrine Bonnaire, Oleg Menshikov, Catherine Deneuve and Sergei Bodrov Jr. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

In 1946, Stalin calls all White Russian émigrés who fled to the West after the Bolshevik Russian Revolution of 1917, back to the USSR in order to help rebuild the devastated motherland in the aftermath of the Second World War and are offered citizenship. Among this group is the émigré Doctor Alexei Golovin (Menshikov) who also believed in Stalin's promises of a peaceful new beginning, his French wife Marie (Bonnaire) and their young son Serjoscha. The atmosphere on the ship taking them to Russia is jovial, with drinking and singing. But as soon as they arrive in Odessa, it turns out that Stalin was only using his promises as an excuse to murder the exiles or have them put in Gulags. Once they come ashore, the Soviet authorities separate them into two groups, 'fit' and 'unfit'. A man is shot trying to run back to his father from whom he is separated, and the Golovins begin to understand the situation they have landed in.

Marie is branded a spy, and her French passport is torn up. Alexei accepts a job in Kyiv overseeing the health conditions in a factory and the family moves into a communal house. Marie briefly befriends the elderly housekeeper—who speaks some French—but this lady is quickly 'denounced' by the state and ends up dead. Her grandson Sasha (Bodrov) is left without a place when boarders come in and claim his missing grandmother's room, and Marie, guilty, invites him to live in the Golovin room.

Marie feels stifled and repressed and wishes to go back to France dearly. She attempts to go to the Soviet authorities and demand to be sent back, but she is stopped by Alexei. Public, noncompliance, he knows, could get them all killed. She also approaches a French actress, Gabrielle (Deneuve), and attempts to gain her help in escaping the USSR. Marie and Alexei grow distant as he acclimates to his role as the public health advisor and toes the party line, while she yearns for the West. Her budding friendship with Sasha, who is a champion swimmer recently thrown out of the local team, becomes a vehicle of possible escape. As she helps him train in order to regain his position on the team, they see an opportunity to go West for the European championships, and help them both towards liberation. Marie gains a job working to iron clothes for the military choir in Kyiv.

Maria and Alexei have a falling out after he thanks the Soviet government and Marie is furious. Alexei reveals that he has slept with the neighbor, because Marie has become distant and the other woman 'looks at him differently' than the resentment he constantly gets from Marie. She throws him out and he begins to live in the neighboring room with the other woman.

Sasha wins the trials and is selected for the championship in Europe. After the selection, he spends the night with Marie. Yet soon after Marie's letters to her French family are discovered in his things and his coach warns her to stay away. He goes to a training camp by the Black Sea.

While away for training, Sasha secures secret passage on a ship West and needs money. Marie furnishes the money and comes to that city with the military choir. The ship captain reveals he can't come close to shore, so Sasha attempts to swim 6 hours out to meet him in the water. Marie is brutally interrogated by the same KGB official she first met when she came to the USSR.

It is revealed that Sasha successfully escaped to the West and Marie is implicated and jailed for six years. Upon her release, her now-grown son and husband come to receive her. She reconciles with Alexei, and he promises her he still loves her. Two years later they are in a delegation to Sofia, Bulgaria and Alexei reveals to Marie he has arranged for her escape over the past few years by speaking to the actress Gabrielle. Marie and her son escape with Gabrielle to the French embassy. Alexei is arrested for complicity and sent to be a medic in a Gulag in Sakhalin. He is not able to return to France until 1987.

Cast

* Sandrine Bonnaire as Marie Golovina
* Oleg Menshikov as Alexey Golovin
* Catherine Deneuve as Gabrielle Devele
* Sergei Bodrov Jr. as Sasha Vasilyev
* Grigori Manoukov as Pirogov
* Tatyana Dogileva as Olga
* Bohdan Stupka as Colonel Boyko
* Hubert Saint-Macary as embassy advisor
* Atanass Atanassov as Viktor
* Valentin Ganev as Volodya Petrov

Reception

Critical response

''East/West'' has an approval rating of 65% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 31 reviews, and an average rating of 6.53/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews"

Awards

;Nominated
* 1999 Golden Globes: Best Foreign Language Film
* 1999 César Awards:
:: Best Film
:: Best Actress: Sandrine Bonnaire
:: Best Director: Regis Wargnier
:: Best Music: Patrick Doyle
* 1999 Academy Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film — Regis Wargnier
* 1999 National Board of Review Awards: Best Foreign Film

;Won
* 2000 Miami International Film Festival: Audience Award
* 2000 Palm Springs International Film Festival: Audience Award
* 2000 Santa Barbara International Film Festival: Audience Choice Award
IMDb - Awards
/ref>

See also

* List of submissions to the 72nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
* List of French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:East West
1999 films
1999 drama films
1990s French-language films
1990s historical drama films
1999 multilingual films
1990s political drama films
1990s Russian-language films
Bulgarian historical drama films
Bulgarian multilingual films
Films about the Soviet Union in the Stalin era
Films directed by Régis Wargnier
Films scored by Patrick Doyle
Films set in the 1940s
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in Kyiv
Films set in Odesa
Films shot in Bulgaria
Films shot in Kyiv
Films shot in Odesa
France 3 Cinéma films
French historical drama films
French multilingual films
French political drama films
Russian historical drama films
Russian multilingual films
Spanish historical drama films
Spanish multilingual films
1990s French films
Works about the Gulag