In an isolated village on the shores of the Barents Sea, Kolia is told by the local administration to leave his house with his son and new wife Lylia. But Kolia refuses to let himself be bought by the mayor, Vadim Cheleviat. Together with his childhood friend Dmitri, who is now a Moscow lawyer, Kolia goes against the corrupt politician to remain in charge of his own life in a place where he has always lived. A struggle begins that becomes increasingly violent, in the heart of a cold, natural landscape.

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Leviathan by Russian director Andreï Zviaguintsev is a modern saga and dry tragedy that won for Best Screenplay at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The only uncommon thing about this movie is its title: anchored in the concrete and paperwork of contemporary society, the story was loosely inspired by a news story that pitted an American called Marvin against local authorities, culminating in several administrative buildings being bulldozed by the desperate citizen. The fact that this film by the director of Retour, which won the Golden Lion in 2003, takes place in modern Russia, which is gangrenous to the highest levels of politics, reinforces the violence of an inhumane system that crushes the individual in order to nourish power. This form of asphyxiation, transported by leaden silence, is amplified by the impressive but glum landscapes that are almost mythological vestiges of a former, luminous world – the whale carcass on the poster was also corrupted by the modern era. Although Zviaguintsev resists melodrama a little too much in order to capture his audience, Leviathan , which profits from a good cast, is nonetheless interesting and clear-eyed. It is telling that for a while there, this film was considered for the Golden Palm even more than Winter Sleep by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who finally won.