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Lilya 4 Ever
2002
From the acclaimed director of the fantastic TOGETHER and SHOW ME LOVE comes this searing tale of a contemporary Russian teenage girl. Lilya (played by Oksana Akinsha) lives in a small poor town but is on her way to a better life in America with her mother and her boyfriend. But she is shockingly abandoned, badly injured by the .. Read more
| Starring | Oksana Akinshina, Artiom Bogucharski, Elina Benenson, Artyom Bogucharsky |
|---|---|
| Director | Lukas Moodysson |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
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Lilya 4 Ever
From the acclaimed director of the fantastic TOGETHER and SHOW ME LOVE comes this searing tale of a contemporary Russian teenage girl. Lilya (played by Oksana Akinsha) lives in a small poor town but is on her way to a better life in America with her mother and her boyfriend. But she is shockingly abandoned, badly injured by the roadside and left to fend for herself. She befriends Volodya, a homeless younger boy, and they share the house and try to make the best of their situation. Sniffing glue and playing hardcore music, Lilya soon falls into prostitution to give them money to buy food, and this soon escalates into rape and violence. Then one day a Swedish businessman arrives on the scene and she's soon in love with him, especially as he promises her a better life in Sweden. Moodysson's SHOW ME LOVE also dealt with teenage alienation, but LILYA 4 EVER is incredibly moving and affecting but unrelentingly bleak.
| Starring | Oksana Akinshina, Artiom Bogucharski, Elina Benenson, Artyom Bogucharsky, Lyubov Agapova, Liliya Shinkaryova |
|---|---|
| Director | Lukas Moodysson |
| Studio | METRODOME DISTRIBUTION |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 49 mins Watch now: 1 hr 45 mins |
| Certificate | DVD: , Watch Online: |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
| Language | Swedish, Russian |
| Subtitles | English |
| Released | DVD: 22 Sep 2003 Watch now: 22 May 2009 Production year: 2002 |
| Watch now | Subscribe and watch this as part of an unlimited package. |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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Having impressed in Sergei Bodrov Jr's directorial debut, Sisters, teenager Oksana Akinishina excels in this sobering study of life on the bottom rung. As the eponymous Lilya, she gives a believable performance of naive vulnerability, whether being cheeky to the Russian mother who abandons her to emigrate to the United States, exchanging insults with the classmates who think she's turned to prostitution, swooning over the stranger who promises her the Moon or enduring the exploitation of the grotesques who populate her nightmare existence in Malmo. But it's in the company of the 14-year-old Volodya (Artiom Bogucharskij), a substance-abusing runaway from Lilya's tenement estate, that the film finds the flicker of human warmth that makes its uncompromising realism all the more tragic.
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Sixteen-year-old Lilya (Akinshina) is cruelly abandoned by her mother to post-Soviet welfare and an aunt who only wants... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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97 out of 117 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
harrowing
This is a documentary, to watch when looking for facts, not fun.
It is well made but I found it too sad to be enjoyable.
It reminded me of just how despicably human beings can behave towards someone who is vulnerable.
It left me feeling that I wished I had not watched it. -
Most recent members' review
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
True Story
This is one of the most truly sad films I have seen for a long time, but well worth watching, despite the heavy subject matter.
The acting is brilliant, and the tragedy of the story is all the more poignant for being based on many true strories of child trafficking and the sex industry.
The director does manage to find a little hope in the story in the form of Lilya's friendship with another abused child, and it is this glimmer of hope that makes the story bearable.
This is a really good film about an important issue and it will leave you thinking for a long time afterwards. -
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From the acclaimed director of the fantastic TOGETHER and SHOW ME LOVE comes this searing tale of a contemporary Russian teenage girl. Lilya (played by Oksana Akinsha) lives in a small poor town but ... -