Est - Ouest (1999)

Director:

Régis Wargnier

Writers:

Rustam Ibragimbekov (scenario and dialogue) and
Sergei Bodrov (scenario and dialogue) ...

Release Date:

1 September 1999 (France)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Plot:

June 1946: Stalin invites Russian emigres to return to the motherland. It's a trap: when a ship-load from France arrives in Odessa...

Plot Keywords:

Stalin | Iron Curtain | Passport | Sexual Promiscuity | Swimming

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Oleg Menshikov	...	Aleksei Golovin (as Oleg Menchikov)
Sandrine Bonnaire	...	Marie, his wife
Catherine Deneuve	...	Gabrielle Develay
Sergei Bodrov Jr.	...	Sasha Vasilyev (as Sergueï Bodrov Jr)
Ruben Tapiero	...	Seryozha, age 7
Erwan Baynaud	...	Seryozha, age 14
Grigori Manukov	...	Pirogov (as Grigori Manoukov)
Tatyana Dogileva	...	Olga (as Tatiana Doguileva)
Bogdan Stupka	...	Colonel Boyko
Meglena Karalambova	...	Nina Fyodorovna
Atanass Atanassov	...	Viktor
Tania Massalitinova	...	Anastasia Aleksandrovna
Valentin Ganev	...	Volodya Petrov
Nikolai Binev	...	Sergei Kozlov (as Nikolaï Binev)
René Féret	...	Ambassadeur de France

Also Known As:

Восток-Запад (Russia)
Изток - Запад (Bulgaria: Bulgarian title)
East-West (Europe: English title)
Vida prometida, La (Spain)
[Est]Ouest (France) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and brief sensuality.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Bulgaria | France | Russia | Spain | Ukraine

Language:

French | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | New Zealand:M | Peru:14 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Burgas, Bulgaria

Company:

UGC YM

Trivia:

The two main Russian actors (Oleg Menshikov and Sergei Bodrov Jr.) do not speak French. They memorized all the lines phonetically.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When Marie goes to the KGB building in Kiev and Alexei finds her there, persuading her to leave, the viewer can read a sign on the building that says, in Cyrillic letters, "Ministerstvo na..." This is a Bulgarian genitive construction, meaning "The Ministry of..." The only Slavic languages that show the genitive case in this fashion are Bulgarian and Macedonian. The genitive case is marked differently in Russian and Ukrainian, which shows that the "KGB" building could not actually have been in Kiev. This makes sense because the film was partially shot in Bulgaria.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Femme Fatale (2002)

Is it east and west, or east "or" west? One has to decide.

Having spent some time in Russia from 1973 to 1995, I was relieved to find that the details of the everyday life in the Soviet Union presented in the film mostly counteracted the stereotypic quality of the harsh interrogator. I found the scenes of the interaction among the inhabitants living in the communal apartment to ring the truest. The ability of the Russians to suffer and celebrate at the kitchen table also seemed humanly authentic and prepared me to accept the Dr. Zhivago story line. I found myself questioning if I or my wife would give up the comfortable life the family had found at the end for the freedom of one of us separating.