Andrei Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, Elena, The Return) has created a blistering winter’s tale, with a disintegrating marriage and the disappearance of a child at its emotional pivot. The broader picture is of the implacable forces tearing apart contemporary Russia, with the personal calamity casting everything into sharper relief. Setting the scene, the camera sketches an apocalyptic landscape of spindly branches, ice-stained windows, dirty snow and abandoned edifices, beneath cement-coloured skies. A child walks through woods scattered with frayed red-and-white police tape, suggesting a crime scene or danger zone with echoes of a modern-day Grimm fairy tale.

“The whole story can be seen as a metaphor for Putin’s Russia and the way the country has lost its humanity. ‘Loveless’ is as bleak and harsh as the tundra.” Adam Graham, Detroit News

“Given the current political climate, the story has undeniable resonance on this hemisphere too. Indeed, this is one of the rare foreign-language films where an American remake would be wholly justified.” Randall King, Winnipeg Free Press