Film

The Banishment

Name: The Banishment
Genre: Drama
Released: 2008
Cast: Konstantin Lavronenko, Aleksandr Baluev, Maria Bonnevie, Dmitri Ulyanov, Vitaly Kishchenko

Family drama

A glacial Russian drama about a marriage fractured by infidelity, set in an isolated dacha where betrayal metastasizes into psychological warfare and moral paralysis. It's a chamber piece with the weight of tragedy—austere, visually precise, and uninterested in easy resolution. For viewers who prize emotional honesty over comfort, and don't need cinema to reassure them.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you are drawn to bleak, handsomely framed chamber pieces where silence and a brooding landscape do the talking, and you don't mind a marriage fraying slowly in front of you.

Skip it if you need brisk plotting or clear answers, since at 158 minutes it moves slowly, keeps its motives murky, and rewards patience over momentum.

What it asks of you: Well over two and a half hours of unhurried scenes, long quiet takes, and a tone that stays cold and heavy with very little comic relief.

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The wildcard

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