What happens when Andrey Zvyagintsev makes a political film with a female lead?  A disappointing monstrosity that could’ve been a masterpiece with forty-percent discarded.

Loveless tells the story of Russian parents going through a divorce, and the search for their lost son.  As a mystery-thriller, it’s good.  The stark settings allow for a sense of urgency in a beautifully disturbed desolation.  As a love-ology, it’s bad, living up to its title – love is nonexistent.  In moderation, that would work, but the message is so heavy-handed that it borders on cartoonish.  And therein lies the ugly: Zvyagintsev has decided to take this opportunity to let everyone know how awful women are.  Loveless starts with a villainous mother and goes through a variety of evil feminine stereotypes.

There is a great, if unsatisfying, mystery-thriller hidden here.  Unfortunately, it is too bogged down in the regressive politics.

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