Leviathan

R

Released Dec 25, 2014

2h 22m

Drama

List

97%

149 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A Russian fisherman (Alexey Serebryakov) fights back when a corrupt mayor tries to seize possession of his ancestral home.

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Critics Consensus

Leviathan lives up to its title, offering trenchant, well-crafted social satire on a suitably grand scale.

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Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

The Blue Lenses

Zvyagintsev grants unrelenting, painstaking attention to the human drama that underscores Leviathan, but at the same time - as the name suggests - there are much bigger things going.

Aug 25, 2018

Full Review

Claudia Puig

The Asahi Shimbun GLOBE (Japan)

A palpable and melancholy aura of resignation fills the masterful Leviathan the fourth feature from Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev. [Full review in Japanese]

Rated: 3.5/4

Dec 19, 2016

Full Review

Katie Kilkenny

The Atlantic

Leviathan offers a wry version of the tragedy that occurs when normal people challenge entrenched hierarchies.

Jul 19, 2016

Full Review

Diego Batlle

Otroscines.com

The first half is quite accomplished and includes rare discoveries with its black humor, but during its second half (especially at the end), this morally and symbolically heavy tragedy grows pretentious and solemn... [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3.5/5

Apr 26, 2023

Full Review

David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

Portions of the work accurately reflect life and reality, but social facts and pressures, like a gravitational force, bend much of the film in false and deeply disoriented ways.

Feb 12, 2021

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Zvyagintsev elaborates a social labyrinth where he puts forward the effigy of the chronicle of a Russian people led by a wholesale bureaucracy far from morality. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 7/10

Jun 26, 2020

Full Review

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Luke C

In all fairness, compared to Deep Star Six, Leviathan is a better shot movie, for sure. But, for some reason in my own personal perspective, DSS just entertains me more. The characters play out as more fun, and the creature is more mysterious. Leviathan is over the top. Deep Star Six is my own cult classic.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/13/24

Full Review

William L

Eastern European filmmakers and bleak, dramatic films steeped in Biblical allegory, name a more iconic duo. You know a film touches a nerve when your national Ministry of Culture (a partial source of funds for the project) proposes guidelines after it is released to ban films that "defile" the national culture. While Leviathan is built off of the unique blend of corruption in the Russian state - a blending of political and cultural sway, particularly surrounding religious identity - the conflict is based around much more universal themes, particularly greed, dishonesty, and hypocrisy. There's a distinct air of hopelessness that hangs over the events of the film; while multiple characters argue that the presence of God is in all things and trust in the divine is the key to happiness, these characters are either powerless themselves, or benefit from the complacency they preach. Every spark of justice and morality that pops up is quickly snuffed out by a well-oiled machine designed to keep the status quo intact. There's not a happy moment to be found here. Not in this place. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/15/22

Full Review

dave s

Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan appears to be a sweeping condemnation of oligarchs and Russian society under Vladamir Putin's rule, but once the bureaucratic greed and slime is wiped away, one realizes it is about much more than corruption and the abuse of power. The film takes place in a small fishing village in northern Russia, where a powerful and corrupt mayor uses his considerable influence with the courts and the church to appropriate the land belonging to a villager whose family has lived in the area for multiple generations. Beautifully shot, it's a powerful and quietly subversive film that sheds light on the unimaginable pain inflicted on those who are simply trying to scratch out a life in an inhospitable land under an unjust government.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Little man's struggle against corrupt officials doesn't seem to lead anywhere pleasant.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A striking drama that depicts with an uncompromising eye the emotional and social misery of remote regions in Russia

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Strange feeling of fear was holding on with my me during the pic maybe because of pervasive wildness of surroundings and its surreality. All of that mixed with great antisystem story and good acting showing triviality and simplicity of oligarchs sums up to unique movie.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

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Andrey Zvyagintsev

Director

Alexey Serebryakov

Kolya

Elena Lyadova

Lilya

Sergey Pokhodaev

Roma

Roman Madyanov

Mayor

Vladimir Vdovitchenkov

Dmitri

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Synopsis

A Russian fisherman (Alexey Serebryakov) fights back when a corrupt mayor tries to seize possession of his ancestral home.

Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Producer: Ekaterina Marakulina
Screenwriter: Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Non-Stop Prods.
Rating: R (Language|Graphic Nudity|Some Sexuality)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Russian
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 8, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.2M
Runtime: 2h 22m

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